Move Along
by EvenAngelsFall22
Summary: With their relationship on the rocks, will a tragedy bring them back together? Or will the string of recent events tear them even farther apart? Rory/Logan, with some Lorelai.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_When everything is wrong, we move along…_

Summer vacation. When you're younger, it's almost too much to wait for. By the time May first rolls around you start planning. You start counting down days until you don't have anything to do at all. You long for the days of sleeping in, watching bad daytime television, and looking forward to doing it all over again for the next three months.

Unless you were Rory Gilmore. Then you didn't plan for lazy days. Instead, you made lists of summer reading to do. Three lists to be exact. The suggested summer reading provided by English teachers, the personal choices you had been wanting to read but didn't have the time before, and the list of books you'd already read but wanted to read again.

There were no reading lists for Rory this summer. Not a single one and it was already late-June. In fact, if you were to ask Rory what the last book she had read was she wouldn't be able to tell you.

Finals had been a blur. The last issue of the paper had taken up a lot of her time. And fussing over Logan while she wasn't at school or at the paper had kept her mind from thinking too much about his leaving and how that could change their relationship. Or how his sleeping with most of Honor's bridesmaids had.

She kept her mind occupied with busy work as much as she could, that way she didn't have the time to think of the state of shambles her personal life was in. Her summer job at the Star's Hollow Gazette as Guest Editor-in-chief was a mere formality that Taylor had let her take over during the summer months while he took his yearly trip to visit his sister and nephews. He had let her keep the temporary position after he came back with the understanding that she would be close to Lorelai, "should the need arise," he had said.

She didn't have time to think about her mother. Lorelai's own problems were worse than her own, but that was all she knew. Rory knew the engagement was off, but the details were elusive. Lorelai didn't say much at all, but she was a shell of the woman Rory was used to, and so she made the effort of thrice daily phone calls and every other day trips to Stars Hollow in hopes of lifting the older woman's spirits. She would do all she could to help her because in another sense, a completely selfish sense, she was helping herself.

The more she worried about others, the less time she had to worry about herself. The busier she kept herself, the harder it was for her to have the time to think about herself and her own problems.

She didn't have time to think about Logan Huntzberger.

_Logan_. Rory sighed and fingered the newspaper that lay in her lap this morning. Despite getting back together after the fallout at Honor's wedding, things were still incredibly strained between them. While she hadn't been able to get over the fact that he had been with all of those girls after their break-up, she had managed to set aside the hurt and anger long enough to take care of him after the accident.

With no one else stepping up, it had been left to Rory to take care of Logan and she had done so without hesitation. She had fussed over him in the hospital, she had brought him home and tended to him nonstop round the clock. Things had almost gone back to normal between them, and Rory was slowly but surely letting go of the bitterness she still had until one day when she had come back to the apartment after running some errands, only to find a sleeping Logan and a message from Walker in their answering machine, asking if there was _anything_ she could possibly do to help him feel better. She deleted the message out of impulse and anger at the audacity that this tart would even dare call their home. In that instance, all of the fears and distrust and anger and hurt came flooding back to Rory and they were back to square one. As planned, after graduation, Logan had left for London and their farewell had been particularly icy.

In the month since he had left, Rory kept her contact with Logan to the barest minimum she could without them actually breaking up. She wasn't sure why they were still together at times. It felt like they weren't more often than it seemed like they were, but despite all the bad, neither seemed to be able to let go of the good. Still, she avoided emails, responding only to ones that required an answer. Phone calls were even worse. Logan would call her twice a day like clockwork but she answered maybe one phone call every other day, claiming to have missed the others due to being with Lorelai or being busy with work. It was passive aggressive and she was fully aware of that, but she wanted him to hurt like she did and she knew she wasn't crass enough to do anything but what she already was.

Sure, she missed him, and even though she was just as angry and confused as before, she knew she wanted to find her way back to him. She just didn't know how, and really, with the fact that he still had eleven months left in London, she wasn't even sure if it was worth it.

She was about to find out though. Rory glanced down at the newspaper in her lap again, and her gaze shifted to the several others spread out around her. The photo and the headline splashed across the front page was the same on every one.

_**Media Mogul Mitchum Huntzberger, age 58, Dies Suddenly From Massive Heart Attack**_.

Rory studied the phone in her hand for the hundredth time. She had dialed the number over and over but always hung up before he could actually answer. Taking a determined breath, she punched in the numbers again and held the phone to her ear, silently counting the rings before it picked up.

She got to four. "Hello?"

Despite the circumstances and everything else, she found herself smiling at his voice. "Hey," she said softly. "It's me."

* * *

Rory turned the ignition off and stared at the Huntzberger estate in front of her. She wasn't quite ready to go inside yet, but after fifteen minutes she had finally been able to turn the car off. There were at least twenty cars in the drive besides hers but only the black Porsche was recognizable to her. It had only been a few hours since her phone call with Logan but the conversation still rang clear in her ears.

"_It's me."_

"_Rory." Her name fell from his lips in what she could only describe as relief. "You've heard."_

"_I did," she confirmed. "Logan, I'm so sorry." Rory wanted to kick herself for how trite and insincere she sounded. "How are you?" Another cookie-cutter response._

"_Tired of handling phone calls, believe it or not," he said with a dry brittle laugh. "I didn't know that when my father died I'd be the one taking care of everything. I wasn't aware that was in the job description." Over the phone, Rory could faintly hear ice clinking against crystal and she cringed at the thought of just how much Scotch he could have already consumed and it wasn't even noon yet._

"_What about your family?" she asked. _

_He laughed again and this time she heard him swallow before speaking. "You're kidding me, right? Mom has taken the Rhett Butler approach to this, and locked herself in her bedroom. Honor is under heavy sedation, and Grandfather is handling all of the business dealings. Guess who that leaves everything else to?"_

"_Where are you?" Rory stood up from the couch and began pacing. _

"_At the house," he supplied. "I took the red eye and got in about four hours ago."_

"_Oh." She was surprised at how much it stung that he hadn't called her as soon as he got back to the States and clearly, it showed in her one-word answer because he picked up on her silence quickly_.

"_I didn't want to wake you Rory," he said stiffly. "Your voicemail yesterday said you were going to bed early, remember?" He paused and took another long drink. "Besides, would you have really answered anyway?"_

_Oh yes, Logan had already made friends with a bottle of Scotch this morning, she now knew this as fact. _

"_I…" she sighed and bit her tongue, knowing he was right, she wouldn't have answered, and knowing also this was not the time to have that particular fight. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked, the words coming out of her mouth before she could stop them._

_There was a pause on the other end of the line, but unlike the others, this one was completely silent. Rory could picture him standing there, with his head cocked to the left, his lower lip worrying between his teeth as he thought._

"_Can you come?" he blurted out quickly. She wasn't sure who was more surprised at the request but she didn't dwell on it as he continued. "I know things aren't great with us, but there's no one else I can really tal— I haven't had a chance to sit down and realize that he's—" Logan's voice caught in his throat and he tried to cover it up with a cough. "I need you, Ace."_

"_Of course," she assured him quickly. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Can I bring you anything?" She grabbed a notebook off of the coffee table and jotted down the items he rattled off to her. "Got it. I'll be there in a bit."_

"_Okay. And Rory?" He took a deep breath and she could tell it was a little shaky. "Thank you."_

_Rory swallowed, feeling a lump in her own throat. "I'll see you soon," she promised before disconnecting the call._

She was startled out of her thoughts by the passenger door of her Prius opening and slamming back shut. Looking over, she saw Logan sitting next to her.

"Get me out of here," he pleaded as he pulled the seatbelt over his shoulder. Rory felt a smile tug at her lips as she remembered the constant fights they had had over seatbelts before Logan had been fined for not wearing his. She didn't smile for long, as she quickly remembered her reason for being here in the first place.

"I… where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere. Not here. Please."

"Right." Rory took one look at his bloodshot eyes and couldn't tell if he was drunk or if he was just exhausted, but she figured coffee would be a good place to start with them. She started the car again and made her way out of the circular drive. She kept stealing sideways glances at Logan but his eyes remained fixed in front of him.

Fifteen minutes later they were seated at a small diner that Rory had decided on mainly because it was empty at this time of the day.

Rory stared at Logan from across the table. "Talk to me," she stated simply, twisting a plastic coffee stirrer between her fingers.

"He's gone, Rory." For the first time, he looked her straight in the eye. "My father's dead."

"What happened?" she asked softly. "Was it sudden?"

"I don't even know yet," Logan admitted. "He was in a board meeting and in the middle of going over advertising expenses for the next year when he just collapsed." Logan paused. "They never revived him, he was just gone. I guess that's pretty sudden, isn't it?"

She reached over the table and placed her hand on top of his. "I don't know what to say to you," she said honestly.

"Just don't say he was a good man." Logan shook his head bitterly. "Every call of condolence has been the same thing: 'Your father was a good man, Logan, he was a great person.' He wasn't Rory. He was a terrible bastard of a man and an even worse father. Why everyone wants to forget what a tyrant he was just because he's dead is just—"

"Hey." Rory quickly moved to his side of the booth, sitting down next to him. "Logan, it's okay." She squeezed his hand comfortingly. "People don't know what to say, they don't know what you want them to say. And you're right, Mitchum wasn't a nice guy, but you know what? He did a lot of good things. That's what everyone wants to remember, Logan. That's what you should remember."

"Is that what you're going to remember Rory? The millions of dollars my father donated to charities? Or are you going to remember how he treated you? How he did everything he could to keep us apart and damn near succeeded?" His eyes snapped angrily and he smirked at her stunned silence. "That's what I thought. And if you can't forget about that, how do you expect me to forget every single terrible thing he's done to me, only to remember the handful of good times that we had?"

"He's your dad, Logan," she said carefully. "I know that you didn't always get along with him, and believe me, I won't be standing in line to nominate the man for sainthood, but you know what? You need to let go of the hurt and anger now because they aren't going to help you get through this."

"That's pretty fucking ironic, coming from you Rory,"

She sucked in her breath and reminded herself of his recent loss as well as the fact that he was indeed drunk. "Maybe we can both learn a little from what I just said," she admitted. Before anymore could be said, Logan's cell phone started ringing and he was about to throw it across the room when Rory snatched it from him and answered it herself.

"Logan Huntzberger's phone," she said smoothly, not taking her eyes off of Logan. He was looking down at the untouched cup of coffee in front of him. She was shocked at how broken he looked. She had never seen him look anything but strong, even when he had been lying in the hospital bed. "No, I'm sorry he can't come to the phone right now, but I'm taking care of all of his calls so is there something I can help you with? Of course. That's very generous of you Mrs. Walsh." She vaguely remembered her as one of Mitchum's secretaries at the Gazette. "I'm sure that will be a great relief to the family. Yes, as soon as we have the details, someone will get back with you. I will tell him, yes. Thank you." She closed the phone and slipped it into her own pocket. "Carolyn Walsh says that her daughter's catering business would be happy to provide for anything your family may need in the next few weeks," she said softly.

Logan nodded numbly. "There's a long list people calling me with things like that. I stopped writing it all down though because I'm sure my mother will treat this like a garden party and only want the best of everything."

"You let me handle all of the calls for awhile," Rory offered. She placed her hand back on his arm. "You should be getting back to the house though. I know you don't want to, but you really should be there."

"You're right," he agreed reluctantly. "Let's go." He slid out of the booth and Rory followed him out of the diner silently. The entire drive back to the house was quiet and Logan only spoke as they were walking up the walk.

"It means a lot that you're here," he said finally. "Not that I didn't think you would come, but…" his voice trailed off and she waved her hand in the air as she offered him a small smile.

"I'm happy to be here," she assured him and after a moment's hesitation she reached down and slid her hand into his. He squeezed it gratefully before pulling her into his arms and enveloping her in an all consuming embrace. After a second, her reserve melted away and she gave into the hug. Suddenly and for that moment, the tension and icy reserve that had been building between them since before he left had melted away and made room for their true feelings to shine through. Without her knowing when or how it happened, he was kissing her, at first sweetly, tenderly, and then with a growing need. He stopped after a few minutes, resting his forehead to hers, closing his eyes and laboring to catch his breath. He whispered into her lips, "God, I've missed you."

A car shone its light in their direction as it pulled into the driveway and broke the spell the moment had cast upon them. He looked to see who was in the car and noticed his aunt Debra scowling their way. He pulled Rory into the house, trying to escape his disapproving aunt's look.

The house was buzzing with activity but it all ceased to stop for one brief moment as all eyes landed on the two of them. After the initial shock of seeing Rory, the activity started up again, but with everyone immediately descending on Logan, each trying to pull him in separate directions.

Whether he didn't want to deal for it, or if it was just too much for him to handle, Rory wasn't sure, but she watched as he shook everyone off and without so much as a glance at her, he stormed up the staircase. There was a stunned silence as they all heard an upstairs door slam hard enough to rattle the glass in the windows as well as the chandelier in the hallway.

Rory stood there for a moment, unsure if she should follow him or if he would just slam the door in her face. She was about to head up the stairs when she heard her name being called from the dining room.

"Rory, I was wondering if we'd see you here, Love!"

She smiled tightly though she was still grateful to see Colin and Finn standing in front of her. "Will you guys go up there?" she asked, nodding towards the stairs. "Keep an eye on him while I take care of a few things down here?" She knew Logan needed her, but with Colin and Finn there for now, she could get a handle on the funeral preparations and at least save him from having to deal with that.

"Happy to be of help," Finn said with a salute. "Would it be in poor taste to take a bottle or two of Mitchum's finest alcohol with us?"

"I think he'd see it as an honor," Colin said decidedly. He offered a smile to Rory. "We'll make sure he's okay, take your time."

"Thank you," she said. She spied Josh in the other room and headed towards him as Colin and Finn went upstairs.

"Rory!" Josh looked genuinely happy to see her.

"Hey Josh." She cast a glance over his shoulder but didn't see anyone else.

"It's just me," he confirmed. "Shira is in her room and Elias is barking orders from the office."

"How's Honor?"

Josh shrugged. "Taking it harder than everyone, but you know that Mitchum treated her like a princess, she's a wreck. She's finally sleeping though. Where's Logan?"

"He stormed upstairs. I sent Finn and Colin up with him. Is there anything I can do?" she asked. "I told Logan I'd help in any way I can."

Josh laughed a little. "Funny isn't it, that we're the ones taking care of everything for a man who didn't want us in his family to begin with?"

Rory smiled back. "At least you made it into the family," she pointed out. She linked his arm through hers. "Now come on, we need to start making a few lists."

Several hours later Rory was finally making her way up the stairs to see Logan. With Josh's help, she had managed to get the few things taken care of that didn't require the approval of immediate family. They had began a list of the people who had already sent flower arrangements so that the appropriate thank you cards could be sent out. They had organized the throngs of phone calls that will still pouring in into several categories: those offering condolences that needed to be acknowledged, those offering their services, and those calling for comments from the family. Shira still hadn't emerged from her room, and Josh needed to go be with Honor, so Rory decided to take the opportunity to check on Logan.

She wasn't sure what to expect when she opened the door to his room, but she definitely hadn't expected to find him, along with Colin and Finn, passed out amidst several empty bottles.

Stepping gingerly over some broken glass she shook Colin and Finn awake and ordered them out of the room. On their way out, Colin apologized for the state Logan was in, but offered up the idea that it was better for him to be asleep than to be ranting and raving. Rory was forced to admit he had a point. She thanked them for their help and shut the door behind them before turning back to Logan.

He was sprawled out on his back, his shoes still on his feet. She made her way back over to him and began to make him more comfortable. She slid the shoes off of his feet, setting them quietly on the floor next to the bed. She then moved up to loosen his tie and at least unbutton his shirt. She had the blankets pulled over him and was about to leave the room again when he surprised her by grabbing her hand.

"Don't go," he muttered, pulling her back to the bed. His eyes opened and he looked up at her. Without saying any more he pulled her onto the bed next to him and closed his eyes again.

Rory kicked off her own shoes and let him move around until his head was resting against her shoulder, his arm draped across her waist. Within seconds he was out cold again and she was left to stare at him and let her mind race.

She watched his as his chest rose and fell with each breath, and she could detect faint traces of alcohol still on his breath. As much as he needed the sleep right now, there was no way that it was in fact restful, and despite the state of unconsciousness he was in, he was still going to feel like hell in the morning. Rory knew this as fact but still, she was grateful for him to be asleep.

The only thing she didn't know was if she could be there in the morning to help him or not.

* * *

Author's Note: As I said, I'll be reposting this story from the beginning, and there were a few changes made. Not so much in this chapter, but in the next two for sure, and then after that I'll be posting new chapters! Hope you enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

"So you're with Logan now?" Lorelai asked, cradling the phone between her ear and shoulder as she struggled to feed Paul Anka.

"For now," Rory confirmed. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to bail on our dinner plans tonight. I told Logan that I'd stay for as long as he needs."

"Don't worry about it Daughter of Mine, my First Born, my Heart. I mean, skipping out on dinner with me, the woman who gave you life for a boy, well, I guess I've raised you well. I couldn't be prouder."

"I can come home," Rory said automatically and Lorelai felt like banging her head against the wall. She loved her daughter, she really did, but since the engagement had been called off she had given new meaning to the word overbearing.

"I'm totally kidding," Lorelai assured her quickly. "I think I'm hanging out with Sookie this afternoon anyhow, I can spend more time with her this way, so it works out well." _You're not lying to her if technically Sookie did ask you to spend the afternoon with her_. "You stay where you are, Logan needs you right now." _And I need you off my back_.

"Oh, that sounds fun!" Lorelai rolled her eyes at the relief in Rory's voice. "Well, I need to get going. Logan and Josh are about to leave and I told them I'd sit with Honor for a while. I'll give you a call later though, okay?"

"All right. Tell Logan I'm sorry. Take care, Kid." Lorelai threw her phone onto the sofa, gave Paul Anka a pat on the head and made her way back upstairs. She crawled back into her bed, pulling the blankets up over her head and closing her eyes. She hadn't slept at all the night before, or the night before that, or the night before that even, all she wanted was to fall into the deepest slumber she could. She didn't have to be at the Inn, and Rory was busy, so she found no reason as to why she shouldn't spend the day in bed. Of course, for the last month, she'd been using any excuse in the book to spend days in bed, but this time she truly felt validated.

From upstairs behind her closed bedroom door she could still hear her cell phone ringing. The faint strains of an The Offspring song from 1994 told her everything she needed to know. She made no move to get to the phone. She didn't want to speak to Christopher, no matter how many times he tried calling her a day.

She didn't want to talk to Luke either, and he called just as much, if not more than Christopher did. He was harder to avoid, also, seeing as how they lived so close to each other. After what happened she didn't know what to say to him. She couldn't explain it to herself, how could she be expected to explain it to him? And poor Rory, she was just along for the ride, not pushing Lorelai to talk about anything, but still just as clueless as to what was really going on and what she could do to help.

"Gah!" she cried out as the house phone started ringing next to her. _Sneaky bastards, they know I don't have caller ID and would have to answer the phone_.

"Yeah well, I'm sneakier than you!" she cried out to no one in particular as the answering machine picked up. "Hah!" she crowed triumphantly.

"Lorelai, this is your mother." Emily's voice rang loud and clear over the machine and Lorelai burrowed further under her blankets. "Lorelai, answer the phone." Lorelai gave the phone a particularly rude hand gesture. Emily sighed audibly. "Very well, I suppose you aren't home after all. I'm sure you've already heard about Mitchum Huntzberger but in case you hadn't I just wanted to let you know about the wake tomorrow evening. Your father and I expect you to join us in paying our respects to the family. Please be at the house by seven. Oh, and Christopher will be joining us as well."

The last thing Lorelai wanted was to do was smile her way through a wake for her daughter's sort-of-boyfriend's asshat of a father, and the only thing that could make it worse was Christopher joining them. She made a mental note to thank her mother later.

Lorelai's head poked out from underneath her purple comforter and her gaze landed on the brown paper bag that sat on the top of her dresser. The stupid brown paper bag who's contents she had driven all the way to Litchfield for. No one knew her there, she avoided the gossip that way.

She flung the covers from her body and padded over to the dresser. After staring at it as though it might explode, Lorelai opened the bag and pulled out the threatening purple and white box.

She had to admit, it was pretty damn funny. Over the years she had given Rory countless lectures on birth control and safe sex and yet she was the one standing here holding a pregnancy test in her hands. She felt sixteen again only this time her problem was infinitely worse.

Lorelai didn't need a test to confirm what she already knew in her heart. She needed a test that could tell her who she should be calling Daddy.

* * *

"Logan!" Elias's voice bellowed from outside his bedroom door as he pounded his fist against the heavy oak. "What the hell is going on? Where have you been hiding and why is Camilla telling me that that girlfriend of yours is running around this house making decisions that were left up to you? I swear to God, Logan, if that's the case, I'm going to—"

Logan jerked the door open before anymore could be said. "Good morning to you too, Grandfather."

"Is this true?" Elias demanded, looking around the room. "Where is she? Camilla tells me that she's here."

"She's in the shower," Logan said calmly. "And yes, she's been handling some of the preparations for tomorrow."

"Logan!" Both heads snapped towards the doorway to see Shira standing there, the picture perfect vision of a grieving widow, in her black suit and pearls. "Don't tell me you have that girl making arrangements."

"She wouldn't have had to if you weren't being so dramatic." Logan shook his head in disgust. He had the headache from hell, courtesy of the considerable amount of alcohol Colin and Finn had poured down his throat the night before and the last thing he wanted to deal with right now were the two people standing in his bedroom. "Neither of you have any right to do any complaining here, seeing as how both of you have been too busy doing God knows what else. You should be thanking Rory for stepping in, and not ridiculing her."

"My God Logan, I can still smell the alcohol on you," Shira commented as she walked further into the room, her face twisting into a disapproving scowl.

"And I can see the bottle of pills still in your hand."

"Enough!" The three Huntzberger's turned back to the door to see Rory standing there with two cups of coffee. "I don't care if you want to hear this or not, but now is not the time for bickering, especially with each other. Look at yourselves, Mitchum's been gone for just a few days and to stand here and look at the three of you, I wouldn't be able to tell." She strode into the room and picked up a manila folder off of the desk. "Here." She handed it to Shira. "Everything you need is right here. Contrary to what you've heard, I really haven't done all that much planning, I've mostly taken down names of people willing to help and accepted condolences on behalf of the family. Josh is the one who has actually been doing most of the brunt work, and Shira, if you're up to it, I suggest you go find him as he is planning on meeting with the funeral director early this afternoon."

"Is something going on here that I don't know about?" Elias demanded. "What makes you think you can be making calls on what should be family decisions when you're not part of the family to begin with?" His eyes swiveled to Logan. "Unless I'm mistaken, there's no ring on her finger, meaning she's not a part of this family."

Rory flinched visibly at the words and Logan stepped part of the way in front of her, shielding her from Elias. "Stop!" he ordered. "I'm going to say this once and you're both going to listen. Rory is here because I asked her to be. She's handling things because I asked her to. None us were in any shape at all yesterday to do anything and Rory stepped in knowing full well how you would react. For as long as she's here, you both will treat her with the respect that she, my _girlfriend_, deserves."

"Your father—"

"My father is not here." He pushed them both out of the room and closed the door on his mother's stricken face, locking it soundly.

"Logan—"

He held up his hand, cutting her off. "I'm sorry Rory. Regardless of the circumstances, they don't need to be treating you like that." He sat down on the edge of the bed and ran his hands through his hair. "I'm surprised you're still here," he admitted.

"Me too," she said honestly. She had stayed awake for the better part of the night, debating on what she should do even though she knew the answer before she would admit it. She would set aside their differences for long enough to get Logan through the funeral and maybe, once things had settled down, they would be able to take the steps in the right direction to rebuild their relationship.

For now though, he needed her, and she wasn't going to turn her back on him.

Rory sat down next to him on the bed and handed him one of the cups of coffee. She began to protest when he reached underneath the bed and retrieved a bottle of whiskey. "Logan no, you need to stay sober today."

"It's not for me." He smoothly poured a healthy amount of the alcohol into her own cup. "You'll need it," he said with a wink. She opened her mouth to protest again but thought better of it and instead raised the mug to her lips.

"That's my girl," Logan said with a smile. She shuddered as the bitter liquid slide down her throat but she smiled back at him. Truth be told, she missed hearing him call her his girl, and it was nice to hear it again. "So tell me, Ace," he said as she took another sip. "What do I need to do first today?"

* * *

The ride to the Huntzberger's was already enough to make Lorelai wish for a drink but then again, a drink was what got her into this mess in the first place. Christopher had been trying to engage her in conversation since they had left the Gilmore's and she had done her best to limit her answers to one or two words each. If either Richard or Emily noticed the tension, they didn't show it, but Emily was shooting Lorelai the occasional concerned glance every couple of minutes.

"Well be in in just one second," Christopher told Richard and Emily as he grabbed Lorelai's elbow and held on tight.

"I really need to get to Rory," Lorelai muttered, trying to pull her arm free from his gasp.

Christopher held tight. "Rory's fine. We need to talk," he demanded, pulling her down a lighted pathway.

"This is hardly the time and the place to—Damn it Christopher, you're hurting me!" Lorelai yanked her arm away finally only to have him push her down onto a bench.

"How about we act like adults, Lor." He sat down next to her. "Or rather, how about you act like an adult? We need to talk about what happened."

"No we don't," she said stubbornly. "We both know what happened. It's the same thing that happens anytime we're together with a bottle of tequila. We did something stupid, Chris. We made a mistake. They really need to put our faces on the Cuervo bottle to keep others from making our mistakes."

"Why does it have to be a mistake, Lorelai?" Christopher asked. "Because it didn't feel like a mistake this time."

She stared at him incredulously. "You're kidding, right? Please, for the love of God, tell me you're kidding. If you think me sleeping with you because I'm upset that I just broke up with my fiancé qualifies as the right thing, then you must still be drunk from that night. No Christopher, sleeping with you is always a mistake and last month was no different!" She rose from the bench and stalked off towards the house, her heels clicking angrily against the paving stones as she walked away.

* * *

"I need to get out of here."

Rory nearly jumped out of her skin, not from the voice, but from how the breath that tickled her ear. She wasn't used to being in such close proximity to Logan anymore. She turned around and offered him a sympathetic smile. "We can't leave," she pointed out. They were only forty-five minutes into the wake and already, the house was full of people.

"But we can take a break," Logan pleaded. "Come on, Rory, take a walk with me." He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the house to the backyard. Rory knew where they were going, they had spent enough time in the gardens behind the house for her to know the way. She couldn't help but smile as he immediately loosened his tie and discarded his jacket the second they were out of the house.

"How are you holding up?" she asked as they walked. "You seem to be doing okay today."

"I am," he said with a nod. "Well, as okay as I can be, I guess," he added reluctantly.

"Has it even begun to sink in yet?" she questioned. In the last few days she had feared Logan hadn't really dealt with anything, but was merely going through the motions of getting through the days.

"No," he admitted, confirming her fears quicker than she had anticipated him to. "I mean, I know he's gone, but I still don't know what all that means. It's like he's on one of his business trips right now, you know?" He sighed. "I don't want to talk about my father right now."

"Sure," she agreed easily. "We'll talk about anything you want." She looked up at him and was shocked at the familiar gleam in his eyes. "Logan, no!"

"Anything I want," he reminded her, stepping closer and putting his left hand on her hip. His fingers edged just beneath her sweater to rest on her hipbone.

"We can't!" she hissed, trying to back away. He held firm to her waist and stepped even closer, bringing his other hand to press against the small of her back, forcing her even closer to him.

"We can," he assured her. "I've missed you, Rory. You can't tell me you haven't missed me." He leaned forward and brushed his lips over her eyes, each of her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, stopping short of her lips. "I know you've missed me," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. "Tell me you missed me."

It was true, she had missed Logan, but she was pretty sure this was all types of inappropriate and not just because they were at a wake for his father. She was still unsure of their relationship and it would be wrong to ignore everything from the last few months and give in to this one moment.

"I've missed you," she admitted breathlessly as his mouth descended on hers and his fingers dug into her sides. His kiss was full of an intensity she hadn't felt before and she felt her resolve beginning to slip away as he tightened his grip around her and walked her backwards slowly until she collided with the thick trunk of a tree.

This was wrong, this was oh-so-very wrong. Even as her conscience screamed at her, Rory was throwing herself into this kiss with Logan and her own hands were forcing the buttons of his dress shirt open as his fell from her waist, one inching farther up under her sweater while the other slid her skirt higher up her thigh.

"Logan…" she tried to protest but as he buried his face in the crook of her neck and his mouth found the spot on her collarbone that he clearly hadn't forgotten about, she forgot what she was going to say.

Yes, this was definitely wrong, but Rory didn't care anymore. Thick bark scraped against her back as Logan pressed her deeper into the tree, but she couldn't feel it. All she knew was that it had been a month since she had been with Logan, almost as long since she had wanted to be with him, and for as wrong as it was, it felt awfully right.

It was only after, as they were straightening their clothing and Logan was plucking twigs out of her hair that all of her common sense came rushing back. How could she have done this? How could she have had sex with Logan when he was dealing with Mitchum's death and not thinking clearly? How could she let herself lose her head like that? She wasn't even sure she still wanted to continue her relationship with Logan and if she decided not to, was this considered anything more than pity?

"Hey." He brought her out of her thoughts gently, as he fixed the hem of her sweater over her skirt and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked up at him and he smiled at her. "It's okay." She could tell by the look in his eye that he saw the worry in hers and he was doing his best to assuage it. He leaned in and kissed her again and she couldn't help but smile into him.

"We should get back," she said softly, buttoning his shit back up and straightening his tie. He picked up his jacket from the ground and they started back towards the main house.

Along the way, they could hear voices arguing and to Rory, the voices sounded vaguely familiar. As they came to a clearing between the house and the gardens, she spied both of her parents seated on a bench and they were indeed arguing. Lorelai was talking animatedly, her hands flying all over the place and her voice floated above the din of everything else just clear enough for them to hear.

"_No Christopher, sleeping with you is always a mistake and last month was no different!'_

Rory stood rooted to the ground, unsure of what she had just heard. The look on Logan's face told her she heard correctly but she still couldn't comprehend. They watched as Christopher waited a few moments before standing up and walking towards the house.

Logan steered Rory in the opposite direction of the house. She had taken care of him the last couple of days, it was the very least he could to take care of her now. Logan swept her into the guesthouse before they were spotted by either Lorelai or Christopher.

"I don't get it." Rory's fingers twisted into the hemline of her sweater as she paced back and forth in the middle of the room. "I mean, we heard them right, didn't we? My mom slept with my dad?" It sounded ludicrous, even to her own ears.

"That's what it sounded like," Logan said, sitting down and pulling her down next to him. "You didn't have any idea?"

"Is this the face of someone who had an idea?" Rory shook her head. "I knew something was wrong, I knew that there was more to calling off the engagement but I didn't…" her voice trailed off as her eyes widened alarmingly. "What about Luke, Logan? Do you think he knows? Do you think they broke up because of this?" She turned to Logan. "I told him to stay away from her, I told him not to ruin my mom's life. I don't understand, why would she…"

"Maybe you should wait until you hear what your mom says," Logan suggested before her voice could pitch any higher. "Find out what the whole story is before you jump to conclusions and blame your dad."

"You think my mom is the one who did this? That she went to him? No, Logan! She was engaged to Luke, she loves Luke, she knows better than to turn to my dad like that! No." Rory shook her head vehemently. "He did this, I don't know how, but this is all my dad's fault."

"Okay, okay," Logan backtracked quickly. "But I still think you need to talk to your mom before you make any rash decisions concerning your dad, all right?"

"I guess." Rory looked down at her hands. "But what do I do? Do I let her know that we overheard them? Wait for her to tell me? What if she doesn't tell me? Do I just go on pretending I know nothing about this?"

"I don't know," he said honestly. "I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you that whatever it is you decide, I'll go along with it. Whatever you want Rory, I'm right beside you."

She found herself nodding but his words did little to make her feel any better about the situation. Looking down at her hands she was unable to look into his eyes as she realized for the first time that she didn't quite believe him. Their relationship was unstable at best right now and part of her felt that perhaps he was only returning the favor. Being there for her because she was there for him right now. What would happen after the funeral? What if she couldn't be there? What if he decided he didn't want to? Her parents' issues weren't anything new to her, but each time their lives tangled it became more difficult to deal with and if she found herself not wanting to deal with them this time around why would he? Not to mention, she realized, that soon enough he would be back on a plane to London and she would be right back where she was a week ago. Alone.

"Ace?"

His voice tore her out of her thoughts and she snapped her head up, forcing a small smile onto her face. Now was not the time for her to unleash these problems on him. "Thank you," she said softly, placing her hand on his knee and squeezing gently. She used his leg to pull herself up reluctantly and straightened her skirt again. "We should get back inside. People will be looking for you and well, now my family is in there too."

She nodded. "Thanks." Reluctantly she stood up and straightened her skirt again. "We should get back inside. People will be looking for you and well, now my family is in there too."

Logan rose to his own feet and reached a hand out to her. "I hold your hand, you hold mine?"

She smiled gingerly and took the proffered hand. "That's an uncharacteristic thing to hear you say," she remarked as they headed back towards the main house. She kept her eyes looking ahead, afraid that if she looked into his eyes her fears would be confirmed, that he was just going through the motions as she was. Playing the loyal boyfriend to her devoted girlfriend.

"It's an uncharacteristic week," he returned as they stepped inside. Rory couldn't agree more.

"I'll get you a drink," he said once they were back in the living room among everyone else. He went in one direction and Rory headed towards her family.

"There you are." Lorelai smiled as she approached them. "I've been looking all over for you. Where's Logan?"

"He's getting a drink. We were outside for a bit, he needed to clear his head." Rory stood awkwardly next to her mother and tried not to stare at her father.

"Clear his head, huh?" Lorelai's eyebrow quirked as she plucked a stray bit of leaf out of Rory's hair. "How's he doing?" Neither Gilmore girl paid any attention as Christopher turned to speak with an old colleague and they drifted a few steps away from him.

Rory shrugged as they both turned to watch Logan, who was caught up in conversation with his grandfather and some other men. "He's okay I guess. He hasn't had time to really comprehend what this all means so he's sort of still in denial about everything that's happened. He hasn't really said anything about Mitchum other than 'he's dead.' I don't think he wants to deal with it at all," she added pointedly.

"He'll deal when he's ready," Lorelai said as she placed a hand on Rory's arm. Rory could only hope the said could be same for her mother.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"So Logan, how do you like London so far?" Randolph Jameson, one of his father's associates from the New York Times had cornered him on his way back to Rory and Elias had joined them almost immediately.

"Logan loves it out there," Elias said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "And we're all very proud of the job he's doing and he's only been there a month. We couldn't have picked a better place for Logan to get his bearings at."

"Ah. But that'll be changing now, won't it?" Randolph asked. "I mean, what with the circumstances, will you be staying in London or relocating elsewhere?"

Before Logan could answer, Elias jumped in again. "At the moment, Logan's future is a bit up in the air, but rest assured Randolph, he'll be transferred to where his talents will suit the family best."

"What does that mean?" Logan asked, turning to face the older man as Randolph walked away.

"What are you talking about?"

"We'll discuss this later, Logan," Elias said, his eyes wandering over his grandson's shoulder as he spotted another associate.

"No, let's discuss this now. What do you mean, I'll be transferred? Grandfather, if I'm not staying in London, I'm coming back to the East Coast." His eyes snapped angrily and for a flash of a moment, Elias saw Mitchum standing before him.

"Logan, we'll discuss this on Friday, after the funeral. Everything rests on what is in Mitchum's will. We'll go from there, all right?" He took a drink from his glass before slapping Logan's arm again and moving into another conversation.

"Hey." Rory came up behind him. "What did Elias just say to you? You look like you're ready to lose it."

Logan shook his head and attempted a smile. "Nothing, it's just a long day, Rory." He handed her the drink he was holding and studied her face. "How are you?"

Rory caught herself mid-shrug and forced a smile onto her face. Logan was the one burying his father in the next few days, her own problems could wait. "I'm fine," she assured him quickly, resting a hand on his arm. She nodded towards a corner of the room. "I spy Colin and Finn over there, why don't we go say hi?" she suggested.

Logan's eyebrow quirked at her as she led him over there. "Are you suggesting a sub-party, Ace?"

"Oh no," she said quickly. "I don't think I've forgiven the two of them yet for the little get-together in your room yesterday."

"We were just trying to help," Colin promised as they became within earshot.

"We were just trying to get Logan hammered," Finn promised with a solemn face. His mouth twitched at the corners and he shook his head. "Forgive us, Rory, please. If you take away our best playmate, we won't know what else to do."

She rolled her eyes. "Just don't show up drunk to the funeral, okay?" Out of the corner of her eye she watched as Lorelai set her drink down quickly and bolted from the den. "I'll be right back," she said to Logan before following her mother.

Once out in the hallway she spun around in a circle, wondering which way Lorelai had gone. She decided on one direction and was about to advance when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

It was Emily. "Let me go after her." It was more of a demand than a question and since Rory was unsure of what to say to her mother, she just nodded and pointed in the direction she thought Lorelai had gone.

Meanwhile, Lorelai was hiding in a horrifically decorated guest bathroom fighting the waves of nausea that were wreaking havoc on her body. So much for morning sickness, this baby clearly didn't care what time of day it was.

There was a soft knock on the door and she looked up at her mother's voice. "Lorelai, it's me. Are you in there?"

She flipped the lock on the door and let Emily in. "What are you doing here, Mom?" she asked.

"Well I came to check on you," she said, as if it were clear as day. "You rushed out of there so quickly and your face is pale. Lorelai, what's the matter? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Mom." Lorelai said reassuringly. "I was sick a few days ago and I still haven't recovered," she lied quickly.

"Oh." A shadow crossed over Emily's face. "I wish you would have told me. I hate not knowing whatever it is that's going on in your life."

"I'm sorry Mom." She apologized tritely, not having the strength or the energy to do anything else.

"And what is going on with you and Christopher? You've barely said four words to him all evening and he looks like someone kicked his puppy."

Lorelai sighed. "Mom, it's nothing. Christopher and I had an argument, that's all, we'll be fine."

"I see." Emily's expression was doubtful but she dropped the subject and moved on. "I've been meaning to ask you, have you spoken with Luke since.. Well, you know…"

Lorelai closed her eyes. Only Emily would badger her with questions in a guest bathroom during a wake. "No Mom, I haven't, but I've been really busy lately."

"Oh Lorelai, I just want you to be happy, that's all." Emily's tone was exasperated as she threw her hands up in the air. "I've seen you with Luke, and God knows why, but you were happy with him. Happier than I've ever seen you, and is it so wrong for me to want that for you still?"

She stared at her for a moment before shaking her head. "No, that's not so bad, Mom," she said kindly. "But I don't think Luke and I are going to end up back together so you probably shouldn't put any eggs in that basket, okay?" She tried to smile but another wave of sickness washed over her and before she could stop herself she was hunched over a ridiculously ornate gold toilet.

As she watched her daughter, Emily's face slowly fell as realization swept over her. "Oh my God, Lorelai. You're preg—"

"Mom, please." Lorelai's voice was weak as she rocked back onto her ankles and held her head in her hands.

"You are, aren't you?" Emily's voice was softer now, and she awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder.

It was on the tip of her tongue to lie, but when she looked up at her mother she was surprised at what she saw. There was no Emily Gilmore Face of Disapproval and Disappointment, there was only concern. She was so surprised by this drive-by act of mother-daughter civility that she found herself nodding in the affirmative.

"I just found out," she said, by way of excusing herself for not saying anything sooner.

"I don't understand, how far along are you?" Emily handed her a glass of water. "Have you been to a doctor?"

Lorelai shook her head. "A month, maybe a little more," she estimated. "I haven't seen a doctor yet, but I have an appointment for next week."

"Please tell me it's in Hartford, I just don't know that I would trust any doctor from Stars Hollow. God knows they probably operate out of a garage or something."

"It is in Hartford," she confirmed. She took a sip of the water before standing up again.

"Well Lorelai, this is just ridiculous! If you're pregnant, you and Luke have every reason to get back together. He should want to be a part of his child's life, and you should want to raise this child together."

"Luke doesn't know, Mom." Lorelai sighed. "Nobody knows, not even Rory,"

"Oh." For a moment, Emily looked surprised. A small smile graced her features before the seriousness of the conversation took over again. "So I'm the only one that knows?" It was the first time she could ever think of that she had been privy to any information about her daughter's life before anyone else, and she was forced to admit that it was a pleasant feeling, despite the news at hand.

"Please don't say anything, Mom. Not yet, it's too soon, I need to figure out some things first."

"Of course," Emily said, placing her hand back on Lorelai's shoulder. She was so stunned still at being Lorelai's confidant that she was quite certain she would have agreed to anything in the moment. "Are you okay to go back out there?" she asked.

"I am," Lorelai said. "And Mom? Thank you." Her tone was genuine and warm, and Emily was surprised to feel the sting of tears prick behind her eyelids.

"We'll tell Rory you ate some disgusting sort of carnival food before we came here, that's the reason you're not feeling well," she said brusquely. "And I'll hurry your father along and we'll leave shortly."

She opened the door and waited for Lorelai to walk past her back out into the hallway. Lorelai could only nod and follow her mother back out to the gathering.

"Hey Kiddo." Rory jumped at her father's greeting and turned around slowly, forcing a smile onto her face, not for the first time that night. She looked around for Logan, and saw him in a corner talking with Shira and Honor.

"Hey Dad," she said, finally looking at him. "How are you?"

"Never mind about me, how are you?" He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Every time I've tried to get to you tonight you've disappeared on me. Is everything okay?"

"'I'm fine," she said quickly, shrugging out of his embrace. "I've just been busy keeping an eye on Logan, that's all."

"Losing a parent is hard, I know that better than anyone, but Logan's a tough guy. He'll get through this Ror. He'll be okay." He smiled again at her again and she managed a smile back. "Have you seen your mom? She disappeared a little while ago and I haven't seen her since."

"I saw her and Grandma talking. I'm sure they're around somewhere." Sure enough, no sooner than the words were out of her mouth were Lorelai and Emily walking towards them. Rory couldn't have been happier.

"Are you alright?" She asked her mother in a low tone. Lorelai's face was pale and she seemed a little shaky on her feet.

Lorelai nodded. "I was over at Sookie's the other day, and both Davey and Martha are sick, I must have caught something from them. I'm sorry Ror, but we're going to have to leave."

"That's okay. Can I do anything? Do you need anything?"

"No." Lorelai smiled and shook her head. "You just take care of Logan, I'll be fine. I just want to crawl into bed and sleep for a few days. I'll be good as new, you'll see."

"Okay." Rory leaned in and hugged the elder woman. "Call me if you need anything." She turned and awkwardly hugged Christopher as well. "Bye Dad. Thanks for coming."

"You guys leaving?" Logan asked, coming over and standing next to Rory. They nodded in the affirmative and Logan shook Christopher's hand. "Thank you for being here, the family really appreciates it." His voice took a robotic tone and Rory had to wonder how many times he had said that exact sentence in the last hour. Once the Gilmores were gone, he turned to Rory. "Honor said she wants to take over the goodbyes and thank yous to everyone tonight, what do you say we get out of here?"

"Sure," she agreed. "Where did you want to go, did you have a place in mind?"

"I do," he said as he walked her into the hallway and slid her coat over her shoulders. "The loft, Rory. Let's go home."

"Home." Rory said weakly. It had been a long time since the two of them had been in that loft together and for the first time ever, she found herself wishing that they could stay at the Huntzberger house. "Sure, let's go home."

* * *

Has it really been a month since I've been here?" Logan asked as he and Rory walked into the loft. He dropped his jacket over the back of the couch before collapsing against the cushions himself.

"Oh, it's quiet here," he remarked, closing his eyes. "It's nice." His eyes opened and he looked over at her. "Come here," he said, waving her over to the couch.

Rory hesitated where she was standing. "Actually, if you don't mind, would it be okay if I just jumped into the shower real quick?" she asked. "It's been a really long day and I just want to get out of these clothes."

"Sure," Logan agreed. "I need to get out of mine too. I tell you what, you go shower, and I'll make us some coffee."

"Okay." She smiled slightly before walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. For a moment she toyed with the idea of locking the door, but decided against it. She fiddled with the faucets for a moment, testing the hot water before she began to undress. She stared at herself in the mirror, taking a few deep breaths.

She and Logan were not okay. Together and separately, they were each struggling. Up until two days ago she had barely even been talking to him. Now, they truly were just going through the motions, trying to get through Mitchum's funeral, trying to get through her mother's secret, trying to get through their relationship issues, and she was just fine with that. She was.

At least, she was up until an hour ago.

She had heard Logan and Elias' conversation. She hadn't meant to, but it was hard not to, what with Logan raising his voice, and Elias having one of those voices you simply just heard. She had been right to be afraid earlier in the guesthouse, Logan was going back to London eventually, or who knew where else at this point. All that mattered was that there was a slim to zero chance of him staying in Hartford and despite his promise, she would be left to deal with things on her own.

Shakily, she pulled her hair up into a pony-tail and managed to make it into the shower before her tears started to fall. She'd be okay, she promised herself.

After all, dealing with things on her own was what a Gilmore Girl did best

* * *

Lorelai was upstairs changing into her pajamas when the heard a knock at the front door. Thinking maybe Emily had come back, she trudged down the stairs and threw open the front door. "Oh."

Luke was standing on the doorstep, a bag from the diner in his hands and a sheepish grin on his face. "I saw the lights on." he explained, looking down at his feet. "And I hadn't seen you in awhile, I wanted to check on you." He held up the bag in his hands. "German chocolate, chocolate chip brownies, just baked a few hours ago."

Lorelai smiled in spite of herself. "Come on in," she said, holding the door open wide. They sat awkwardly on the couch, with what seemed like a thousand miles of space between them. "Logan's dad just died," she said for lack of anything better to say. "I just got back from the wake with my parents." She wisely let Christopher's name off of the list.

"I saw that in the paper," Luke said. "How's Logan taking it?"

She shrugged. "The best he can." She paused. "How's April?" She didn't miss the pride that flashed in Luke's eyes at the girl's name.

"She's good. Doing some sort of summer science project that I'm not smart enough to help her with." Luke lifted his shoulders in a helpless shrug. "What about you?" he asked abruptly.

"Me? I'm probably not smart enough to help her either," Lorelai said dryly. She was caught off guard by his hand on her arm.

"I've been worried," he said sincerely. "I haven't seen you in a few days, no one could tell me how you were—"

"I'm fine," she was quick to reassure him. "I've been feeling a little under the weather, that's all. I didn't want to face Babette and Miss Patty, or Kirk…" she let her voice trail off. She met his eyes with hers. "I was avoiding you," she confessed. They both smiled.

"I miss you Lorelai." She watched as Luke's hand moved from his lap to cover her own. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her to pull away from him, to send him home, to do something other than just sit there staring at him.

"Luke," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm not okay," she managed to choke out before the tears fell; before he folded her into his arms and she sobbed into his shoulder.

* * *

Rory stepped out of the shower only after she had stopped crying, and methodically began to dry herself off. She cursed softly when she realized she had failed to bring her pajamas in with her and wrapped the towel tightly around her before opening the bathroom door and stepping out into the hallway. Clichéd though it may be, what she saw nearly broke her heart.

Logan was sprawled out on the couch, sound asleep. The coffee hadn't been made and he was still in his day clothes. She inched closer to him and was surprised to see what very well looked like tearstains on his cheeks. Hesitantly, not wanting to wake him up, she reached down and brushed her fingertips over his eyelids. They were still slightly wet and she could have kicked herself for letting her own problems overshadow the fact that he was the one who was grieving the loss of a parent. She tried to ignore the pangs of guilt as she reached forward and smoothed the hair from his forehead. He shifted in his sleep, his eyes blinking open slowly. "Hey," he murmured, not fully waking up. "I wasn't crying."

She smiled down at him, thinking about her own red-rimmed eyes. "Neither was I,' she said softly. "Come on, let's go to bed." She helped him up and they made their way over to the bed, leaning on each other the entire way.

They both slept soundly that night, wrapped tightly around each other and one of the last thoughts to go through Rory's mind before she drifted off to sleep was the pleasant realization that despite the problems they each were facing, they still knew how to take care of each other in a crisis.

Halfway through the night, they found themselves making love, not knowing or caring who initiated it. It was almost as if they had gravitated towards each others want and need to be closer, and they threw each other wholeheartedly into their love.

Rory woke up early the next morning due to the shrill ringing of Logan's cell phone. Logan, who prided himself on being able to sleep through anything did just that, not even moving a muscle as she untangled herself from his arms and grabbed his phone off the dresser. She flipped it open and answered it with what she hoped was a coherent greeting.

"_Who is this_?"

She winced at the voice. "It's Rory, Elias," she answered.

"_Oh. Well, one never knows with my grandson. I need to speak to him_."

"I'm sorry, but Logan's still asleep." She glanced at the clock near the bed, it wasn't even six-thirty yet.

"_I didn't ask if he was awake. I said I needed to speak with him_."

"With all due respect Mr. Huntzberger, I'm not waking him up this early. Logan's still jet-lagged from London, he's barely slept since he's gotten back, and now that he's finally asleep, I'm not going to wake him up." It was a lot easier to hold your ground against this man when he was merely a voice on the other end of the phone. "Now, if there's something I can help you with, I'd be more than happy to, but if not, Logan will see you at breakfast later this morning."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "_I'll speak with him then_." He hung up before Rory could answer him. Without another thought, she turned the phone off and crawled back into bed.

"Who was that?" She was surprised to see Logan awake and shook her head.

"It was your grandfather, it's nothing that can't wait until later this morning." She turned onto her side and faced him. "How'd you sleep? We still have some time before we need to be up, you can sleep some more."

"I slept okay…" his voice faltered and he coughed to cover it up. "I should call Grandfather back. The funeral is in a few hours, he may need help with some—"

"He's fine," Rory interrupted him. "All of the preparations have been made, it didn't sound like it was an emergency at all. He said he'd talk to you at breakfast."

Logan nodded, closing his eyes for a second again. He sat up in bed again a moment later. "Maybe I should head to the house now. I shouldn't have come back here last night, I should have stayed there." He started to get out of bed but Rory stopped him.

"Hey, Logan, come on." She shook her head, bringing him back down against the pillows. "Everything was taken care of at the house, there wasn't anything you needed to do. You wouldn't have been able to sleep there, we both know you needed your rest, you needed to get away from all of that for awhile." She ran her fingers in circles against his wrist. "You've been great these last few days Logan, you've taken care of everyone; your mom, your sister, even your grandfather. Please, let me take care of you for just a couple hours more, okay?" She smiled as he gave in, and drew the blankets back up around him. "Do you need anything?" He shook his head. "Then let's try and sleep for a bit more okay? It's going to be a long day, you really should sleep while you can." She hadn't even finished her sentence before his exhaustion won out and within minutes, he was snoring lightly again.

* * *

Lorelai shifted in her sleep and winced as a sharp pain shot through her neck. After several attempts she finally managed to open her eyes and tried to remember why she was asleep on her couch and not upstairs in her bed. And then, like a bad dream, it all came rushing back to her. Oh God…

Sure enough, she was lying with her head in Luke's lap. He was asleep still, and she frantically tried to figure out the best way to remove herself from this situation without any more awkwardness.

As if there wasn't enough to start with.

"_I'm not okay," she whispered. Over and over, the same three words kept spilling from her mouth as she cried into his sleeve. "I'm not okay. I'm not okay."_

"_Lorelai, what is it? What's wrong?" She couldn't answer him so he finally stopped asking and just sat there, rubbing her back and making soothing sounds every now and then. "You're fine," he said, as her tears started to subside. "It's okay, see? You're okay."_

_She laughed harshly into his shoulder, her breaths coming in ragged gulps. "I'm not," she repeated. " I screwed up, Luke. I've screwed up so much, and I'm so unbelievably sorry. You'll never know how sorry I am. You'll never know how much I wish I could fix things."_

"_We all make mistakes Lorelai. I know you're sorry. I know you didn't mean for things to happen the way they did."_

"_You don't know the half of it," she whispered. "If I could take it all back Luke…" her words died as she pulled away and looked up at him, her eyes bright and watery. _

"_I know." Their eyes met again. "I know Lorelai."_

_She kissed him then. It was the only thing her brain wasn't screaming at her to do but it was the only thing she wanted to do. She kissed him fully, desperately, as her hands clutched at his arms, bringing him closer against her. For a few wonderful moments, he kissed her back, just as desperately, before gently taking her by the shoulders and holding her away at arms' length._

_The tears started fresh then, and Lorelai wasn't sure if it was the look in Luke's eyes or the hormones to blame. "God, I'm such a mess," she scolded herself. "And here you are, trying to take care of me when you've got better things to do…"_

"_Hey." Luke gave her hands another squeeze. "I'm exactly where I need to be right now. I'm not going anywhere. If you need to cry, just cry."_

_So cry she did, until she cried herself to sleep in his arms. They hadn't said another word all night, but it was always like that with them, they didn't need words to comfort each other._

Lorelai closed her eyes again and breathed in deeply. God, she missed the smell of him. She was content to lay there for as long as she could, but someone else had other plans for her. The ever-present waves of nausea washed over her and she bolted up from the couch and slammed her way into the downstairs bathroom.

When she was finished, she rested against the side of the bathtub and placed her hand against her still-flat stomach. "You're just all ready to announce yourself to anyone and everyone, aren't you kid?" she whispered. "Well guess what? Mommy's not, and you're just going to have to wait until she is, you hear me?" She closed her eyes and then opened them again. "I'm sorry Kiddo, it's not your fault, I know that. I just want to keep you a secret for a little while longer okay? That's all I ask. How about I let you in on a little secret though? That guy out there in the baseball hat and flannel? The one we slept on all night? You couldn't ask for a better daddy than that, and I want nothing more than for that to be the case." She patted her stomach again and stood up. "Okay, time for us to go back out there, but I gotta tell ya. This all-day sickness thing we've got going on? It's not working real well for me, how about we change that, okay? Okay." She rinsed her mouth out quickly and opened the bathroom door to see Luke in her kitchen. "Morning."

He looked up at her. "Morning," he replied. "You okay?"

She waved his question off dismissively. "I'm fine. I was over at Sookie's last week, the kids are sick, I shouldn't have given them so many Aunt Lorelai-kisses."

Luke nodded. "I made you some tea. And some toast." He looked at her apologetically. "Caesar has the morning off, I really need to get back to…"

"Please, go," she said quickly. "I mean, I'm okay, really. And I've kept you for much longer than I should have anyways. Go on, the diner needs you. Kirk, needs you." She smiled slightly. "Thanks Luke," she said quietly.

He nodded. As he handed her a mug of tea, his other hand fell to her arm and he squeezed gently.

"You're okay, Lorelai," he repeated from last night. "You're going to be fine. I'll see you around, all right?"

"All right," she replied with a nod of her head. She watched him leave before collapsing into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. "Fine" she echoed, her hand pressed firmly against her stomach again.

"We're going to be just fine."


	4. Chapter 4

"Rory," Logan called her name softly, shaking her slightly. "Come on, Ace, time to wake up." He bounced the corner of the mattress, trying to wake her. "Well good morning sleeping beauty," he said as her eyes blinked open slowly. "We're going to be late if you don't get up and dressed soon."

She opened her mouth to speak but a yawn escaped instead. She looked at him with pleading eyes. "Ten more minutes?" she asked, rolling over onto her side and pulling the comforter over her eyes.

"I've already let you sleep an extra hour," Logan pointed out. His tone was amused as he pulled the comforter away from her. "You can't tell me I wore you out that badly last night! You were practically dead to the world before I got back here with your water. And you didn't move once all night." His brow furrowed and he moved her so she was lying on her back again. "Are you feeling alright, Ace? Maybe you're coming down with something." He put his hand to her forehead.

She shook her head, removing his hand from her face and kissing the tips of his fingers. "I'm fine," she insisted, sitting up in bed. "I'm just tired, it's been a long week, and I really haven't slept well since you've left for London in the first place."

Logan grinned at that. "Can't sleep without me, huh? Good thing I was here last night to tire you out."

She laughed at him. "You're awfully proud of yourself over last night, aren't you Huntzberger?" she smirked. "I've got news for you, it wasn't all that earth shattering."

"Lies!" He tackled her to the bed, pushing her back into the soft mattress. "Although, if I remember correctly, you were the one who couldn't wait until we were in the apartment. I was only finishing what you started," he pointed out.

Rory blushed, recalling the previous evening. She wasn't even sure what had gotten into her. She and Logan had had a late dinner with Josh and Honor and on the drive back home, she had been overcome with all of her feelings toward Logan that she had been pushing to the back of her mind since he had left for London. She had looked at him sideways in the car as they pulled into their parking garage and it was all she could do to push him upstairs rather than pull him into the backseat. He was right, once they were in the elevator with the doors safely closed, she couldn't get enough of him, unleashing any and all pent-up sexual frustration that had built up between them. It had been a side of Rory Logan hadn't seen in a long time and he was more than happy to oblige her. In fact, she was almost positive that he would have taken her right there in the elevator if they hadn't been interrupted by the Harrison's, the couple who lived the floor below them, and who were on the verge of divorcing, according to the fights Rory sometimes eavesdropped on through the vents, and idle apartment building gossip. The looks on their faces were not those of amusement, and Rory and Logan both had to struggle to keep from laughing as he pulled her out of the elevator two floors too early and chased her up the stairs to their loft. They spent the rest of the evening rediscovering each other, both sexually and otherwise; and by the time they fell asleep during the early morning hours, both were relieved to be back in a place that resembled happy.

"You know..." she rolled back over to face him but still didn't sit up. "We still have plenty of time before the meeting," she began. "I mean, we don't have to meet your family for breakfast beforehand, do we?" She batted her eyelashes up at him and gave him what she hoped was a good enough pout to convince him to let her stay in bed.

No such luck. "As much as I'm all for making up for lost time, Ace, not this morning." Logan dragged the blankets to the foot of the bed and pulled her into a sitting position. "If we're not at breakfast, not only with Grandfather have a meltdown, but Honor will never let me hear the end of how I left her to the wolves." He placed a kiss on the top of her head as he pulled her from the bed to her feet. "Up we go. We're already running late as it is." He grinned boyishly at her glare. "No frowns. Tonight I promise to spend all night long making up for the time we've been apart and more, deal?"

She made a big production of sighing as she grabbed the fluffy towel he handed her and headed towards the bathroom. "It's the least you can do," she called over her shoulder before shutting the door. Through the heavy oak, she heard his obscene remark back and laughed at him before turning on the water and getting things ready for her shower.

The hot water served its purpose, waking her up as she twisted and turned underneath the spay. Adjusting the temperature of the water, Rory leaned her head against the tile, letting the soap run off her body as her mind wandered. In the days since that first night Logan had been back in the loft, things had changed between them. Her words to him from that first day after Mitchum had died had stayed with her. _You need to let go of the hurt and anger now because they aren't going to help you get through this. _She had made a good point, and he was making the effort to not dwell on the bad Mitchum had done, so she tried too. And it wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, in fact, she was finding it very easy to not think about the past and focus on not just being there for him, but being with him too. She was surprised at just how much she had missed him when she stopped to think about it and she spent a lot of time trying not to think about what would happen after all of the funeral business was done with, and the probable chance that he would be leaving again.

"Don't tell me you fell asleep in the shower Ace, come on!" Logan banged his fist against the closed door. "You have five minutes or I'm coming in there to get you!"

She opened her eyes, and reached for the shampoo. "If I was asleep in the shower, another five minutes would kill me!" she yelled back before she began washing her hair. Logan's response was intelligible and she couldn't help but laugh at how normal this morning felt.

It felt good to be normal again, she realized. It felt right.

* * *

Rory was having a hard time staying awake as she waited for Logan and the rest of his family to come out of the office once the reading was done with. Originally, she had been in there with them, and after the first twenty-five minutes had been mortified to realize she had almost fallen asleep on Logan's shoulder. Even now, she felt her face flush as she recalled him pulling her closer and whispering in her ear to see if she was okay. She couldn't ignore the swirling in her stomach, or the feeling of lightheadedness, and admitted to Logan that she needed some air. He had offered to go with her, but she declined, telling him to stay, the lawyers had barely gotten through the formalities and were just now beginning to get into the division of assets. She excused herself, and quietly left the the office, feeling Shira's disapproving stare the entire way. 

That had been over two hours ago and she still hadn't seen Logan. She had considered going back into the office once her lightheadedness had passed, but ultimately decided against it. She had been content to sit there and wait for him, but now that she was closing in on the third hour, her impatience was getting the best of her. Finally, she heard the office door open and jumped up to see Shira and Honor step out and head downstairs. She waited a few more seconds but when Logan didn't appear, she decided to go to him. Halfway down the hallway, she heard their voices.

"Listen to me, Logan, you know this is the best way. You know I'm right."

"No, I don't," Logan protested. "With all due respect Grandfather, this makes no sense at all. How could I possibly manage everything over here from London? Why would I do that? Why would you make me virtually unaccessible to every other division of the company by keeping me in London?"

"London needs you," Elias said simply. "It's our weakest link right now, and rather than abolish it completely, it's best to have you there overseeing things and making sure it's not run into the ground. The North American newspapers can run just fine without you for now."

"Why don't we just cut the crap and you tell me what all this is really about Grandfather?" Logan spit out angrily. Rory hovered near the door, just out of sight. She knew she shouldn't be listening, and she felt slightly guilty but she couldn't walk away.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Logan," Elias said calmly. "But you're beginning to make a scene."

"This is about Rory, isn't it?" Logan asked. "It's about me and her and now that my dad's gone, you're going to step in and make things hell for us. You won't hide or get past your disappoval of her and instead of trying to accept the fact that she's a part of my life, you can simply ignore it, by sending me thousands of miles away."

"Really Logan, if I wanted to keep the two of you apart, I wouldn't need to go to such lengths," Elias remarked snidely. Rory cringed. She was aware of Elias' displeasure of her relationship with Logan, but she never knew just how deep it ran. "As it is, you're needed in London right now. This is exactly why Rory is not the right woman for you. The proper woman for you to marry would have nothing keeping her here and would be all too willing to follow you to London." She closed her eyes as she heard the glass shatter and knew Logan had just thrown something.

"Her not being able to leave is exactly the reason she is the right girl for me," he seethed. "But you wouldn't know anything about it because you've never taken the time to ask. But Rory is not the issue here, I'm not worried about her. The issue is that you are trying to send me back to London for no reason whatsoever, and I'm not going to go."

Rory backed away from the door, not caring to hear any more than she already had. She debated her choices. She could go downstairs, and endure the hysterics of Shira or she could escape to Logan's room, where it would be quiet and she could wait in peace. There really was no choice, and she quietly crept down the hallway and let herself into his dark room.

The housekeeper had swept through the room since the last time Rory had been in there, the empty alcohol bottles had been cleared away, the bed had been remade. She sat down on the edge, and was surprised by the overwhelming urge to cry. Huntzberger disapproval wasn't anything new to her, and after all of the pointed reminders in the last week alone that she wasn't one of them, she wasn't holding her breath for the welcome to the family speech anytime soon. She felt a few tears slide down her face and closed her eyes against them, not wanting to burst into full sobbing. With a sigh she crawled up to the head of the bed and stretched out, pressing her face into Logan's pillow. Rory turned to the side and looked at the alarm clock. She was getting nervous for Logan, and not just because of what she had overheard. When they had been getting dressed earlier that morning he had confessed to her that he had no idea what Mitchum had planned for his future. The uncertainty and the stress of the last week had taken its toll on Logan, to the point where he had cut himself shaving so many times this morning that Rory had finally taken the razor from his hands and finished the job herself.

She wasn't sure how much time passed but again, she found herself drifting off to sleep.

"First you fall asleep on me at the funeral, now here at the house?" She opened her eyes slowly and found Logan's face inches away from hers. His brow was furrowed and he raised a hand to her forehead. "This is the third time this weekend you've fallen asleep on me, Ace," he said, moving his hand to cradle her cheek. "You better be really sick or I'm going to take this personally."

She scooted closer to him, burying her face into his chest. "I don't know what it is, I'm just sleepy," she admitted.

"You wore yourself out taking care of me all week," he said, running a hand through her hair. "How about we get you home and I take care of you for awhile?"

"In a minute," she said, her eyes closing again. "This is nice right here."

"Yeah, it's not half bad, is it? Logan closed his own eyes and they lay quietly for a second.

"Was it horrible?" she asked quietly, remembering the conversation she had walked in on.

"It was… unexpected." He hesitated, content to just lay there and play with her hair. She waited patiently for him to continue. "It was a lot to take in," he said finally. "There weren't many surprises. The family finances are in no danger at all, everything is to remain in the family's name, with Grandfather and my mother the primary beneficiaries."

Rory nodded against his chest. "That sounds like what you were expecting," she said, remembering their previous conversations on the subject. "What else?" she prodded.

Logan moved to look directly into her eyes. "It's mine, Rory," he said quietly. "Huntzberger Publishing, it's all mine. He went ahead and named me CEO."

She swallowed hard, watching his face. It was eerily expressionless and she waited for him to continue but it was clear he wasn't saying anything else. "We knew that was a likely possibility," she said softly. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't have a choice." He shrugged his shoulders at her. "It's mine, no room for arguing. If I don't accept it, I'm out. I have nothing. Even in death, the man wants to control my future."

"So what happens next?" She studied him carefully, waiting for any sign of how he felt about any of this and not wanting to let on that she had heard anything. "What do you do now?" she pushed forward.

"I don't know," he answered. He released her and rolled over onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "Grandfather is calling all of these meetings for us to take all over the country to announce my new status, and according to him, I need to find my role," he accentuated the last few words with air quotations before picking her hand back up. "Within six weeks the transition will be complete, and I'll be in. Just like that."

"Six weeks," she repeated. "They're not wasting any time at all." She squeezed his hand comfortingly. "Six weeks isn't so bad. In less than two months, you'll be back here and settled in." She bit her lip, wondering if he'd take the bait. She couldn't let him know she'd overheard anything, but her curiosity was getting the best of her.

"Rory." He shook his head, a dry brittle laugh coming from his throat. "You think it's actually that simple?" He shook his head again. "Of course it's not. No, Rory, I'm not coming back here after six weeks. I'm going back to London. I'm moving to London permanently."

"Oh." Rory looked away from him. She knew what he was going to say, but that didn't make hearing it any easier. It was her worst fear coming true. He was leaving her again.

Taking deep breaths, she tried to swallow the lump in her throat. This wasn't about her, or them, and she had to remind herself of that. This couldn't be about her, or about them, this had to be about him and his life, and what they both wanted for him, whether he knew what he wanted or not. If Elias had his way, there wouldn't even be a them to be concerned about. Not that she had really made many positive strides in their relationship in the past month as it was.

"Tell me to stay." His voice broke her out of her thoughts and her head snapped up. So much for keeping it strictly about him.

"Logan…"

"Tell me to stay. Tell me I don't need this, that I'll be fine without my father's money, that I don't need any of it. Tell me," his voice faltered. "Tell me we'll be okay, Ace."

"We can be okay without you giving up your future," she said carefully. She ignored the desire to do what he wanted, to beg him to stay. It didn't matter what she wanted at this point, she knew Elias wouldn't stop until he had his way, and with Logan starting this new career path, the last thing he needed was one more thing to worry about.

"How? How can that happen with you here and me in London? This isn't just for the summer, Rory, or for six months, or even a year. This is full-time. This is permanent. How can we work things out like that?"

"Logan," she began again. "Don't do this. Not right now. Don't make me the deciding factor in something that's going to affect the rest of your life." She bit her lip, knowing this conversation was about to turn even worse. _Stay_, she begged him silently, wishing she could make herself say the words. It would be pointless to. He was going to leave, they both knew it, despite their fighting over it now. They both knew he would give in, that he would step up to his family duties. A family, she reminded herself, that she wasn't part of.

"The rest of my life? Rory, what about our life? Have you forgotten that you have actually forgiven me? That despite your best efforts of avoiding me this past month, we are together? Or do you want to take that back now?"

She looked up at him calmly in spite of her growing panic over him leaving. "Your world has been turned upside down, Logan, in a matter of days. Decisions have been made for you, but there are still some decisions you can make for yourself. I don't think that the best thing for you to do right now, in this exact moment, is make plans based on us. Make them based on you. Once you know what you want, we can work on what we want." She was giving him an easy out if he wanted it, though she knew he wouldn't take it. She was trying to push him away even if it was the last thing she wanted to do.

He stared at her for a long moment. "Or, you can take one more decision away from me and make it yourself," he said, rolling over and getting up from the bed. "Thanks Rory." He walked out of the room before she could respond, and she was left there to stare at the ceiling and contemplate everything he had just said. After a few long minutes she got up and followed him downstairs. He was already waiting in the car for her.

The drive back to their place was impossibly silent, and the tension made Rory nervous. She thought about initiating idle conversation with him a few times but every time she looked over at him, his jaw was set and his eyes fixed firmly on the road. Finally, she decided against actual words and just reached over and laced her fingers with his. She waited almost two minutes before she saw his shoulders relax and felt his own fingers curl around hers. Not one word was spoken the entire drive, but the tension had lessened.

The second the apartment door was opened, Logan made a beeline to the bar and poured himself a drink. "Do you really need that?" she asked warily.

He turned and looked at her. "I just inherited a multi-billion dollar company, found out I was going to be banished to London permanently, and my girlfriend tells me she wants me to move. Yeah, I think I do. Want one?"

"No." She sat down on the couch and waited for him to finish. "I didn't mean what I said the way it sounded," she said finally. "It didn't come out right."

"So you don't want me to go to London?"

_No, stay! _"No, I really think you should go, Logan. I think you need to." She watched his face carefully for his reaction.

"You're right, I don't understand you." Logan sat down next to her. "Why would I need to go to London?"

"This is an amazing opportunity for you," she said earnestly. And it was. "Logan, I know you don't see that right now, but think of what all of this could mean for you in the long run. You love the newspaper business, we both know that, and now you have this chance to really make a name for yourself, to become someone great." She paused. "You can do anything you want because of this, and I know right now you're not thrilled, but Logan, this is a really good thing."

"And what about us?" he asked. "We're not exactly working out with this whole you live here I live there thing, are we? In fact, up until last week, I couldn't even say for sure that you were my girlfriend, could I?"

His words cut a little deep. "We had issues Logan, you know that."

"We?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"_I_ had issues," she clarified. I still do. "And maybe I was wrong, maybe I was being childish, but I'm getting past them and Logan, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here," she reached for his hand. "You could move to Japan and you wouldn't lose me. I promise." She was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince him.

He looked down at their hands. "This is crazy."

She shrugged. "Eh, we're crazy," she pointed out. We've never been what you would call conventional have we?" He shook his head. "Why start now?"

"I have one condition for you."

"Name it."

Logan looked her directly in the eye. "Trust. If you don't trust me Rory, this is never going to work. Do you trust me?"

"I trust you," she said automatically, meeting his gaze steadily. Her voice was confident and her expression was sure, but her heart was pounding furiously. She squeezed his hand tightly. He stared at her for a long time and she knew he was trying to read her.

Finally he nodded. "I guess I'm going to London," he said slowly. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I don't want to think about it right now." He took a long drink from his glass and set it down on the table. "I believe I said I was going to get you home and properly take care of you, didn't I?" he asked, standing up and reaching for her hand.

She raised an eyebrow at him before placing her hand in his. "I'm a sick girl, Huntzberger," she reminded him. "You have to be gentle with me." She was startled when he swept her up into his arms and carried her towards their bedroom. "What do you think you're doing?"

"With the way you keep falling asleep, Ace, I wanted to make sure you made it into the bedroom." He placed her down on the bed and went to work undressing her. She couldn't stop her eyes from closing as his hands made contact with her skin and he began to massage the tension she hadn't even been aware of out of her lower back. She felt his lips press against the base of her spine and again, she found herself fighting the urge to cry.

Rory had never lied to Logan before, and she really didn't want to start now. She hadn't thought twice about telling him she trusted him, the words had slipped from her mouth as easily as though she were asking for another piece of cake for dessert. It was an automatic response, and one that she meant. She did trust him, that part wasn't a lie, but she knew what he had really been asking, and that was a question she didn't have an answer to. Things were so close to getting back to normal for them but she wasn't naive enough to believe that they were one hundred percent fixed and that with one declaration of love all of her doubt and suspicion would magically disappear.

She moaned appreciatively as his hands worked their way up to her shoulders. She did love Logan, there was no question about that. She loved him and she wanted to be with him, and more to the point, she wanted to trust him completely. She wanted nothing more than for the two of them to end up happily ever after and she knew that the chances of that happening relied not only on her willingness and her ability to open herself up to him again, but also on her ability to trust that he wanted to commit to her fully, a realization she struggled with daily because he was after all, Logan Huntzberger.

"Still with me, Ace?" he asked, sweeping her hair to the side and running his fingers from the base of her neck up into her hairline.

"Still with you," she whispered back, meaning every word.

* * *

She cried the first time he left on a business trip. It had been three days after Mitchum's will had been read and she felt they had finally gotten back into their old routine. She had gotten used to him being around again and here he was leaving. She wasn't ready to go back to missing him again but they had talked it over countless times. She knew he would be back in a couple of days and they both knew that this was only the beginning. The trips were going to be frequent and varied in length over the next few weeks, and she realized she needed to become accustomed to them, if only to prepare for what they would eventually be dealing with when he went back to London. She still cried when he left on the second trip, but not nearly as much. She didn't cry for the third, the fourth, or even the fifth trip, but as she stared at the suitcases stacked neatly by the front door she couldn't say she wouldn't cry for the sixth. 

"You're leaving already?" she asked, lifting her eyes toward Logan as he came out of the bathroom with his shaving kit. "Logan, you haven't even been home for eleven hours, why are the suitcases back by the door?"

He sighed and sat down across from her. "I have to be in New York later tonight for a meeting," he informed her. "I got the phone call when you were in the shower. The plane's leaving in an hour."

"Well that's just great," she complained, getting up and pacing the length of the floor. "You said you'd be home through the weekend, we had plans, remember?"

"Colin and Finn will be fine having drinks next week," Logan said dismissively.

"And me? Am I supposed to be fine waiting until next week to see you too?"

Logan rubbed his temples tiredly. "Are we really going to have this fight now, Rory? This shouldn't be any big shock to you, we both knew the next month was going to be insane and that I wouldn't know if I was coming or going. This isn't even the first time I've left unexpectedly early, so tell me, what the hell is the problem this time?"

She turned in mid-pace and glared at him. "The problem is that I miss you Logan, okay? I know that this isn't anything new, but you promised me that you would be home this weekend so I went ahead and made plans for us and now you're telling me you're leaving again!" She shook her head disgustedly. "I don't like this, Logan."

"And you think I do?" He shook his head incredulously. "You don't get to do this Rory. You're the one who convinced me to go through with this, you don't get to stand here now and tell me you don't like it. Guess what, I don't like it either, but there's not much we can do about it now but get through it. We're not going to get through it if you get pissed off every time I leave again. What do you want me to fucking do, Rory?"

She winced at his last question. "You know I hate it when you use that word."

He smirked in spite of himself. "You didn't mind me using it last night when I got home." He was trying to diffuse the situation but in an instant he saw her eyes snap angrily and knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"So is that why you came home last night?" she asked, her hands resting on her hips and her voice raising an octave. "Not because you missed me but because you missed being in my bed? That's great Logan, that's really great. Thank you."

Logan stared at her. This was absolutely crazy. "You have got to be kidding me, Rory." He reached out and grabbed her elbow, stopping her in her place. "Hey, look at me." He pulled her chin until they were face to face. "What is this about, Ace? Talk to me." He watched as her face crumpled and her whole body sagged. "Rory?"

"I don't know," she said helplessly. She shook her head wordlessly. "Everything you're saying is absolutely right, and I don't know why I'm yelling at you. You're right, it's not like I'm being blindsided by any of this." She offered him a small smile. "I really do miss you though," she said softly. "And I do hate you being gone all the time."

He tugged her into a hug right there in the middle of the living room. "I hate it too," he said, kissing the top of her head. "And no matter what foolish thoughts you have in your head," he paused and looked at her sternly, "I came home last night because I missed you."

She accepted his answer with a nod. "Do you really have to go to New York?" she asked, biting her lower lip and looking up at him.

He nodded. "I really do, Ace. And I have to leave soon." He leaned down to kiss her lightly. "Hey," he said, pulling away. "Why don't you come with me?"

"What? Logan, no." She shook her head. "I can't come with you, you'll be working."

He brushed that off. "It's one dinner meeting tonight which I'm sure won't last very long. Come on, you should come! You can't have any plans because you just said you had made plans for us, right? A few days away might be good for you, you know. And I don't mean a few days in the Hollow," he said, raising his hands up in protest as she began to talk about going to see her mother. "I think you're crazy enough lately."

"Hey!" She swatted at his arm, but laughed. "Maybe it's not such a bad idea," she said thoughtfully.

He grinned at her. "So what do you say, Ace? Can you be packed and ready to go in ten minutes?" He began to push her towards the closet "If you want, I'll help you," he offered.

Rory twisted in his arms to look at him sideways. "I'll do my own packing, thank you very much. Give me fifteen minutes?"

"Fine, fifteen. But I'm leaving without you if you're not back out here in twenty," he threatened.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You wouldn't dare." She watched as Logan retreated back to his own bags, letting her know that he was going to run them downstairs and would be back up for hers. She waited until she heard the click of the door before closing her eyes and resting her head against the door. Rory took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This wasn't the first time in recent weeks that she had picked a fight with Logan over nothing, but it still didn't make any sense to her. Why this fight today? She may as well ask herself why she yelled at him the last time they were home and he had left the remote sitting on top of the television, away from the sofa, thus negating the whole reason for having a remote control in the first place. She shook her head and began throwing clothes into one of her suitcases. She was being ridiculous, they didn't spend enough time together for her to engage him in senseless fights. She zipped up the suitcase, vowing to herself that there wouldn't be any more stupid fights, especially while they were away.

She met him at the door and he grinned as he checked his watch. "Twelve minutes, not bad at all, Ace." He took the bag from her. "I'm betting you forgot your shoes, or pajamas, but that's okay, we can always get whatever you need once we're settled in the hotel." He winked at her.

"So why did I even bother to pack then?" She followed him out into the hallway and waited as he locked the door. "Hey," she said, stopping him before they made it to the elevator. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "I don't know what's going on with me lately, but I promise you, no more silly fights, okay?"

Logan chuckled and kissed her cheek. "You're cute, and as much as I'd love to believe you on this one Ace, I'm not holding my breath," he teased. They reached the elevator and were waiting for the doors to open. "It's okay though," he said reassuringly. "Sometimes, I think our silly fights are fun."

She stared at him, her eyes full of disbelief. "You just like making up after the fights," she accused. They stepped into the elevator. "I mean it though, Logan, no more unprovoked fights. In fact, I'll make you a deal. No fighting at all while we're in New York."

He laughed. "Ace, it's okay," he said. "Really, I don't mind."

"I do!" she insisted, resisting the urge to tell him that the craziness of her mood swings was starting to bother her more than she liked. "No fighting in New York, or I'll..." her voice trailed off as she tried to think of an appropriate measure.

"Or you'll send me those pictures I keep asking for to keep me from being lonely on my trips?" Logan asked, a hint of teasing in his voice. He knew there was no way she'd ever go through with it.

Her eyes lit up. "Yes!" she said triumphantly. "I solemnly swear, right here in this elevator, that if I start one stupid fight on our trip, you will get those pictures Logan," she said, linking her pinky finger with his. The elevator doors opened and they stepped out, seeing the car and driver waiting for them outside of the lobby. "No fighting for two days," she said breezily. "How hard could it be?"

Seven hours later, Rory was about to lose her own bet.

"Are you seriously not ready yet?" Logan asked incredulously, walking into the bedroom of their hotel suite. His meetings were done for the day and he and Rory were meeting Elias for dinner.

She glared at him through the mirror. "Are you seriously asking me that?" she snapped back, mimicking his tone. "Or did you think I thought it would be proper to have dinner with your grandfather with my dress unzipped and barefoot?" She tugged at the fabric bunching at her waist.

"None of my clothes fit right," she complained. She continued to struggle with the zipper until Logan moved behind her and helped zip her into the dress.

"Maybe those peanut butter and jelly hot fudge sundae nights with Lorelai last week weren't such a good idea after all," he remarked lightly as he smoothed the dress around her hips and dropped a kiss onto her shoulder.

"One might not have been so bad. Four nights in a row though? Probably not a good idea," she grumbled. "Hey!" She whipped around and stared him down. "Did you just call me fat?"

"Uh, no." Logan rolled his eyes. "Seriously Ace? Is this a month long PMS or what? I gotta tell you, the mood swings are killing me here. Are you about done?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh I'm done all right," she spat out before storming into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her. Logan sighed and dropped down onto the bed, placing his head in his hands for a moment. This was all eerily reminiscent of something Logan couldn't quite put his finger on. The crazy, out-of-nowhere mood swings, the completely ridiculous fights over nothing; he had witnessed this before, he just couldn't remember where or when. "Rory, come on!" he called across the room. No answer from the bathroom. When she didn't answer for several minutes he stood back up and walked over to the closed door. "Ace, open the door," he pleaded. He put his hand on the knob and realized it wasn't locked. Without hesitating he pushed the door open and pulled her out. "Come here." He walked her into the middle of the room and turned her around to face him. "What's going on here?" he asked. "You can't fight me on this Rory, you've been running hot and cold all week. What's going on? Tell me."

She shook her head. "Nothing's going on," she insisted. "I'm fine. I'm still just—"

"Stressed from the last few weeks, I know, I know," he finished for her. "I am too, you're right. But..." He remembered overhearing this exact conversation, but from who? He ran the possibilities through his mind as Rory rambled on about being stressed out and how Taylor was on her case about the paper, and her mother was avoiding her phone calls, and she never knew where he was. The more she rambled, the more her voice became less hers and more… _Regina, Colin's third step-mother? What the hell_? He racked his brain, trying to figure out why this was all so familiar. _Son of a bitch_. He cut her off mid-rant, looking at her alarmingly. "Are you pregnant?"

Rory's mouth dropped and she involuntarily took a step back. "Excuse me? No, I'm not pregnant! Where did that come from?"

He held up his hands. "I'm just saying, Ace. Let's look at the facts here. You're constantly falling asleep at weird times."

"I'm not having the best luck with sleeping lately."

"You just said none of your clothes fit you."

"The evils of hot fudge and peanut butter."

"The mood swings are out of control. You're bitchy as all hell half the time."

"You're irritating me half of the time!"

"Where did those come from?" he asked, jabbing a finger into her cleavage. "Rory, I love you, but those are definitely bigger than they were a month ago."

She looked down. "It's a really good bra," she said defensively.

"Right." Logan looked half-amused by the situation. "I still say you're pregnant."

"And I still think you're crazy! I'm not, and honestly Logan, I think I would know if I am."

"Are you late?" he asked, realizing he didn't remember her having her period in the last month in spite of the seemingly never-ending PMS.

His question caught her off guard as she realized she was. "No," she sputtered, refusing to believe he had any clue as to what he was talking about. "Last week while you were in Chicago," she lied defiantly, assuring herself at the same time that she really was just stressed.

"Hmm." he stared at her for a moment. He had been with Colin nearly the entire summer that Regina had been pregnant and he could have sworn that Rory was acting the very same way.

"Do I even want to know why you're such an apparent expert on possibly pregnant woman?" Rory continued, her hands on her hips. He recognized this as her fight stance and knew better than to set foot in that trap. It was best to diffuse the situation now and bring it up later if need be, when she was calmer and possibly not hungry.

"Whatever you say Ace." He kissed her cheek sweetly, relieved as she visibly relaxed. "Are you all set, can we go now? Grandfather's probably waiting on us."

"Let's go," she agreed as she picked up her purse, all too happy to abandon the topic. "I'm starving."

Logan smirked as he held the door open for her. "Well you are eating for two now," he teased.

She hit his arm. "You're hilarious. Really. But I'm not pregnant."

"Fine, but let's tell Grandfather you are," Logan suggested as they got into the elevator. He chuckled as the elevator began it's descent.

"What's so funny now?" she asked with a glare.

"Nothing at all, I was just thinking about how much I'm going to enjoy those pictures you have to send me now." He smirked at the look on her face. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally uttering the only thought in her head.

"I hate you, Logan Huntzberger."

"Aww, that's no way to talk to the father of your child," As he teased her, Logan realized just how relieved he was that it was indeed just teasing. They stepped out into the restaurant and he rested his hand on the small of her back as he guided her to their table. "Dinner's going to be so much more fun now."

* * *

"Rory, I hope we're not bothering you with all of this shoptalk," Elias said, pausing in his rant to Logan and turning to her. "I do apologize, I'm sure you expected a more conversational dinner, but I am afraid that this is the call of business. It doesn't end just because dinner's on the table." 

She smiled tightly at the older man and shook her head. Their salad plates hadn't been cleared yet and she had already lost count of how many times Elias had mentioned Logan's returning to London and how it couldn't be happening soon enough. "It's fine, Elias, I completely understand. In fact, I can't ever remember a dinner with my grandparents that wasn't interrupted by at least one work related phone call." She paused and took a sip of her water. "From the sounds of it though, Logan seems to have done wonderfully today." She smiled at him and placed her hand over his.

Logan took the hint. "She's right, Grandfather. Everything went fine today, why don't we abandon the shoptalk at least until dessert, okay?" He turned his palm up and laced his fingers through hers.

Elias opened his mouth but changed his mind before he could say anything. "All right Logan, we'll talk about something else then," he said pleasantly before turning to Rory. "So tell me young lady, what are your plans for the summer? Are you working anywhere? I don't recall reading any articles from you lately."

"Actually, I've been filling in as editor of the Stars Hollow Gazette," she answered, her voice leveled.

"I've also been taking a couple of classes."

"Of course," Elias said with a nod. "Still catching up after your... time off?"

Logan started to say something but Rory cut him off before he could. "A little," she admitted. "But there's no such thing as learning too much, is there, sir?" she asked brightly.

"I suppose." He paused and refilled his and Logan's wine glasses, passing over Rory's, which was still full. "It's a pity your obligations here are keeping you from going to London with Logan, isn't it?" he asked as he moved to cut his steak. "From what Shira tells me, you've had some difficulty being apart from Logan this summer."

"Where did Shira hear that?" Logan jumped in.

"From Emily I would assume," Elias said with a shrug. "Did I not get the story right, Rory?"

"Of course, I always miss Logan when he's away," she said with a smile in Logan's direction. "And it's never easy being away from someone you love, but we're managing just fine, I think." Logan leaned over and kissed her cheek.

Elias muttered something under his breath that neither of them could hear but before they could question him he was distracted by a colleague walking past their table. He excused himself, and jumped up from the table to speak with him.

Rory collapsed against the back of her seat. "He really does hate me, doesn't he?" she asked tiredly. Her head ached and she wasn't sure if it was from the conversation or not. She reached for her glass of wine.

"Sure you should be drinking that?" Logan asked with a smug grin. She made a face at him but put the glass down and picked up her water glass instead. Not because Logan was right, she told herself, but because wine wasn't going to help her headache.

"He's right, you know," she said quietly.

"Right about what?"

"It is hard when you're away," she admitted. "I'm not looking forward to you leaving for good again."

She stared at her water glass, determined not to cry again. "I would go with you, you know," she said suddenly, looking up at him.

"What?"

"London," she clarified. "Logan, I've thought about this for awhile now. If this ended up being too hard for us, I'd come to London."

He stared at her for a long moment. "I'd never ask you to do that, Ace," he began.

"You don't have to," she interrupted. "Logan, this is me telling you that if it's what we needed, I would do it. For us." She looked down at their hands, still intertwined on the table. "I just got you back," she said as though she needed to explain. "I'm not going to give up on us so easily. I'll do whatever it takes, okay?"

"Okay," Logan agreed, trying not to smile too broadly. He looked over his shoulder to where Elias was still conversing with the other man. "Wanna get out of here?" he asked, turning back to Rory.

"What about the rest of dinner?"

"We can stay if you want," he offered. "Or, we could go back up to our room and forget about London and my grandfather, and newspapers, and anything else going on in our lives and just be Rory and Logan on vacation in New York City." He stood up and offered her his hand. "I'll even throw in dessert."

She pushed back her own chair and grabbed his hand. "Well since there's dessert involved," she teased. She waited as he flagged down their server, first telling him to let Elias know they were leaving, then instructing him to have dessert sent up to their room in a couple of hours. Then, with arms wrapped securely around each other, they left the restaurant. As they waited in the lobby for the elevator doors to open, Rory rested her head on Logan's shoulder, contemplating their last words.

She had meant what she said; she had given a lot of thought over the past couple of weeks about whether or not she could leave everything behind and move to another country to be with Logan if that's what they needed. After the first internal pro-con list, she had realized it wasn't a question of could she, but rather, would she? Logan picked her head up from his shoulder, turning her chin up to kiss her. Her decision was only confirmed as her arms went around his neck and she settled contentedly into their kiss. Behind her, the elevator doors opened and closed with neither of them moving from the embrace.

She absolutely would.

* * *

_Well look at that, a new chapter! Many thanks and hugs to Katie for encouraging (and harassing!) me into getting back into this story. Hope you enjoyed the update!_


	5. Chapter 5

"Rory, it's not that big of a deal."

"Not that big of a deal?" she echoed into the phone. "Logan, you're leaving tomorrow. For London. Who knows when I'm going to see you again? You're supposed to be here today. With me." She was pouting and she knew it. "I woke up and you were gone! You couldn't even wake me to tell me you were leaving for the day?"

"Not for the day, for the morning," he clarified. "I was trying to avoid a fight, for as well as that seems to be working out now."

"We're not fighting. Not yet anyways." She sighed. "How many meetings does he have you in today?" She picked up the remote control and began flipping through television stations.

"Only four," Logan promised. "If all goes well, I promise I'll be home by three. Three-thirty at the latest."

"Which means I'll see you just in time for dinner," Rory grumbled. "Is this how it's always going to be, Logan?"

"I don't understand."

"You promised me today. It was going to be the two of us, no cell phones and no talk of London or Elias. You leave in the morning Logan..." her voice trailed off. "He's always going to find a way to keep us apart, isn't he? Work is always going to come first. Before us." _Before me_.

"No," Logan said firmly. He resisted the urge to point out she was the one who insisted he take this job in the first place, not wanting to add any fuel to the fire. "Ace, I mean it. I'm going to be home by three-thirty. The second I come through that door, the cell phones, both yours and mine, are going off, and we're going to have the entire rest of the day to ourselves. Believe it or not, Rory, I need to spend tonight with you just as much as you need to spend it with me."

"Okay," she relented, not entirely believing that he would be home when he said he would. "I guess I could head to Stars Hollow and spend some time at the paper," she admitted. "Taylor's been on my case about working from home and ignoring the staff." As it was, the staff consisted of Miss Patty, Gypsy, Andrew, and Kyle; and they were just fine without her. She rolled her eyes as Logan laughed into the phone.

"There you go. Spend a few hours in Stars Hollow, make an appearance at the Gazette and visit with your mom. Just be home in time to make yourself even more gorgeous for me, okay?"

"Not possible, I'm gorgeous enough," she said flippantly.

Logan laughed. "Fair enough. Just promise me you'll be home at three-thirty, okay?"

"Promise me you'll be home at three-thirty," she returned.

"I promise." She heard voices in the background and then him sighing. "Meeting's about to start, I have to go. I'll see you at three-thirty, I love you."

"Love you too," she said softly before putting her phone down. She glanced up at the television screen and made a face. Unknowingly, she had stopped flipping channels at the Learning Channel, and they were showing an episode of A Baby Story. In the last two weeks, Rory had come to learn that this was the only show they seemed to air during the afternoons. She had never noticed that before. Of course, she had never noticed that the cute couple that lived one floor beneath them had a baby either, until she tripped over their stroller in the front lobby the day before. Since coming back from their short trip to New York, she had become acutely aware of anything baby, or pregnancy related; from the home pregnancy test commercials that aired all hours of the day to the never-ending gossip about the latest celebrity baby bump watches on her magazine covers, Rory noticed it all. Even Lane was pregnant, for heaven's sake!

She kept telling herself that she wasn't pregnant. Willed herself every morning to not be pregnant. She excused away every possible symptom and managed to convince Logan that he was wrong, plain and simple. It wasn't that she didn't want a baby one day, she just didn't think now was the ideal time to start that chapter of her life. She wasn't ready for any of that, and Logan certainly wasn't, seeing as how he was just about to leave the country for an indefinite period of time. So she convinced herself otherwise. She wasn't pregnant, she was stressed out, and with good reason. The aforementioned fact that her boyfriend was leaving, classes were proving more difficult than she had expected, and she was still waiting for Lorelai to tell her she had slept with Christopher. These were all very stressful situations, she reminded herself daily, even as she was throwing up in the mornings. She had explained that away with the fact that Lorelai had been sick earlier in the summer and she had spent so much time with her, she had gotten sick as well. Then, with all of the stress she had been under, she hadn't been able to shake the bug.

She shut the television off and dragged herself off of the couch and began to get dressed. Taylor would undoubtedly be surprised to see her at the newspaper office this morning, and she cringed, imagining the scolding she was going to get from him for deciding to let Miss Patty and Babette have their gossip column without getting his final approval. Of course, if the ladies hadn't made their first blurb about him and his newest toupee, Taylor probably wouldn't have had such a problem with the article.

With problems like this every day, how could she not be stressed?

* * *

"Mom?"

Lorelai jumped at the sound of her daughter's voice, frantically shoving her newest how-to-be-pregnant book under the couch cushion and rising to greet her in the hallway. "Hey!" she said, giving her a hug. "I'm sorry, did I totally spazz out on plans today?" She searched her brain, trying to remember if they had indeed had plans or not.

Rory laughed. "I was in town, had a meeting with Taylor," she paused, making a face. "And I saw you were home, so I figured I may as well stop in and see how you were doing." She frowned. "Are you busy? I can leave if—"

"Are you kidding me? I'm never too busy for my darling daughter. Unless you know, I'm actually doing something. Which I'm not, so come on in!" She pulled her into the living room. "So what's new? I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks."

"You saw me on Tuesday."

"I feel like I haven't seen you in _days_," Lorelai corrected herself with a wave of her hand. "Tell me every little thing that's been going on with you. How was Taylor? I hear our next town meeting will be addressing slander in the press and the possible outcasting of Babette and Miss Patty."

Rory laughed. "He definitely wasn't happy, that's for sure. And his hair was curiously missing." She shrugged. "Maybe I'll try and make it back for that town meeting, sounds like it'll be a good one." She sighed, tucking her feet underneath her legs. "I don't want to talk about Taylor anymore, tell me, how are you?"

"Well, I still haven't forgiven you for skipping out on Friday night dinner to jet off to New York without telling me and especially without telling your grandmother, but" Lorelai paused and shrugged. "That was two weeks ago and I'm not all about long term grudges so I'll probably forgive you in the next few minutes, but still, the Grandparents, they were not pleased. Especially since you missed last Friday as well. You better be there tomorrow night."

"I will be," Rory promised. "Logan leaves tomorrow morning, so he won't be there, but I will be. And I already apologized to Grandma for the last two weeks."

"Tomorrow huh? What are you doing tonight then? Does he have something disgustingly romantic planned for tonight then?" Lorelai shook her head. "Forget it, forget I asked that, I already know the answer. I don't want to know the answer, but I already know what the two of you will be doing tonight."

Before Rory could respond with the sarcastic comment she had on the tip of her tongue she felt the room begin to sway and swallowed hard, feeling the bile rise in her throat. Knowing she wouldn't make it upstairs to the bathroom, she rushed toward the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, the nauseousness subsided and she leaned against the table, taking deep breaths.

Lorelai followed her into the kitchen, concerned. "I thought I was the one who was supposed to get sick at the idea of you and Logan together," she joked. Her smile faded as she saw Rory's face.

"Are you okay there?" she asked. "You're looking a little green." They both sat down at the table.

Rory waited a minute for the queasiness to completely pass before shaking her head. "No, sorry," she managed finally. "I haven't felt well lately, I think you gave me that flu you caught from Sookie's kids."

"God, I hope not," Lorelai muttered before she could catch herself. She studied her daughter carefully. Her eyes drifted from the tired expression in her eyes to her radiant skin down to her waistline, where her sweater was stretched taut against her stomach where it normally hung loose. Her own hand automatically went to her stomach. "Sweetie," she began hesitantly.

"What?" Rory eyed her mother suspiciously.

"I…" Lorelai's voice trailed off. "Are you… I mean, could you be…" she took a deep breath. "Are you pregnant?"

"God, not you too!" Rory exclaimed. "Did Logan put you up to this?"

"What are you talking about?"

"For the last two weeks, Logan's been asking me if I was pregnant. It's getting so repetitive, I can only tell him no so many times," Rory complained.

"Is there any chance you should be telling him yes?" Lorelai asked cautiously.

"I'm not pregnant!" Rory insisted, her voice raising an octave. "I told you, I caught the flu from you, that's all."

Lorelai looked down at her hands before meeting Rory's eyes. It wasn't the way she had planned on telling her, but now seemed to be a good time to confess. "That's not possible Rory, I was never sick." She held Rory's gaze steadily. "I'm pregnant."

"Yeah, okay." Rory started to laugh before noticing Lorelai's face. "Mom, are you serious? You're pregnant?"

"I am," she confirmed. "Hon, I'm sorry. I know I should have told you, but I wasn't ready to tell anyone just yet, and I'm still not really ready to tell anyone, but I figured I should tell you because maybe, just maybe, you don't have the flu either." Her words came out in a rush and she drew in a deep breath when she was finished.

Rory shook her head vehemently. "No!" she argued. "I'm not pregnant, I can't be. So okay, you weren't sick, but I am. It's just a nasty case of the flu, that's all."

"You're sure?" Lorelai pressed. "Honey, if there's any chance at all, you need to…"

"I'm sure," Rory said firmly. "I am not pregnant. But you…" she swallowed and twisted her hands in her lap. "Wow, mom. Does Luke know?"

It was Lorelai's turn to shake her head. "No, believe it or not, the only person who does know beside you is my mother. And she found out by mistake."

"Why haven't you told Luke? Mom, he needs to know. Unless..." Rory's hand went to her mouth as she remembered the conversation she overheard between her parents at Mitchum's wake.

"Unless what?"

"Nothing," Rory hedged. "Why haven't you told Luke, Mom? He has a right to know."

"You're right, he does," Lorelai agreed. "But I told you, I'm not ready to tell anyone, I'm still processing. Luke and I aren't together anymore, that's a big issue you know."

Rory sighed, frustrated that Lorelai wouldn't tell her the whole truth. "So what are you going to do?" she asked finally.

Lorelai shrugged. "Figure it out as I go along, just like I did with you." She smiled. "I meant what I said though, I'm really not ready to tell anyone just yet. You won't say anything?"

"Not if you don't want me to." Rory felt tears prick her eyelids. "Are you excited?" she asked timidly. "Because I don't know how to respond to this. Can I hug you, congratulate you? Or do I need to hug you and say I'm sorry and I'm here for you?"

"How about a congratulations hug and an I'm here for you?" Lorelai countered. "I am excited," she admitted finally. "So a baby wasn't in my plan, but hey, neither were you and that worked out pretty well if I say so myself. This won't be any different."

Rory nodded before leaning over and hugging her mother tightly. "Whatever you need, I'm here," she promised.

"Thanks, Kid." Lorelai closed her eyes and hugged her daughter back. She pulled back and studied her daughter carefully again. "Honey, you're sure—"

"I'm not pregnant!" "Okay, okay!" Lorelai raised her hands in defeat. "If you say so, I believe you." She didn't, but she knew better than to push the subject. "So tell me about you and Logan then. I'm going to forget that I should be furious he thinks he knocked you up and listen as you tell me all about how the two of you are handling his busy new lifestyle."

Rory shook her head. "Mom, no. You're pregnant! This is big news, and I want to know everyth—"

Lorelai cut her off with a brush of her hand. "We have months to talk about me and this baby, trust me. At some point, you'll be begging me to stop talking about it. Now is the time to talk about you. Let's hear it." She desperately wanted off the subject, she had no idea how to talk about the baby without letting it slip that she was smack dab in the middle of her own who's the daddy situation and that really wasn't a conversation she wanted to have at the moment.

Rory sighed. "It sucks," she said simply. "I never know if he's coming or going, and when we do try and plan a few days together, something comes up and he has to jet off to parts unknown." She frowned. "He's really leaving tomorrow. The big move back is actually happening."

"So why are you here with me and not spending the day with him?" Lorelai asked.

"Because Elias has his day booked full of last minute meetings, making sure everything here is wrapped up and that he's prepared for the move." Rory sighed. "He promised me tonight but I wouldn't be surprised if he calls to tell me he's running a couple of hours late." She shook her head. "I sound bitter, I'm not, I swear I'm not. At least, not very." She shrugged. "I understand what Logan needs to do now, I want him to make this move, I want him to have this job. I have to be okay with everything that comes with that."

Lorelai nodded her head, refraining from pointing out who Rory really was trying to convince. "Well I hope tonight goes well then," she said. "And I'm sure Logan's going to do everything he can to make sure it does." She was about to say more but was stunned to see her daughter's eyes slowly filling with tears. "Hey," she said softly. "Honey, what's this about?" She scooted her chair closer and slid an arm around the younger girl.

Rory shook her head, brushing the tears from her eyes. "I'm fine," she insisted. "I'm just not happy with the idea of him leaving again." She sighed. "I can do this, right?" she looked to her mother for confirmation.

"You can," Lorelai said seriously. "Look, Logan may not have always been my favorite person, but he loves you, Hon. And you love him. You two will be okay." She pulled her into a hug. "Are you sure there's nothing else?" she asked, not remembering the last time she saw her daughter cry. She wasn't quite sure how to handle it, Rory barely ever cried. "What else does Mommy need to fix, huh?"

Rory laughed. "I love you, Mom," she said softly, resting her head on Lorelai's shoulder. "Thanks."

"Hey, anytime. That's what I'm here for." Lorelai pulled away. "And on that note, I have to kick you out," she said, realizing the time. "I didn't know you were coming today, I have a doctor's appointment in Hartford this afternoon."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Actually," Lorelai cringed. "Emily's insisting she come along. I couldn't get out of it." After attending the first doctor's appointment with her, Emily had insisted on coming to the second as well, and Lorelai didn't have the strength to tell her no.

"That'll be good," Rory said with an approving nod. "This could be really good for you and Grandma."

"Or really disastrous." Lorelai chewed on her lower lip. "Wait here," she said, springing up out of her seat and running upstairs. She came back a few minutes later and set a brown paper bag down in front of Rory. "I want you to take this home," she said seriously.

"What is it?" Rory peeked into the bag and glared at her mother. "Mom! I don't need a pregnancy test."

"Oh really?" Lorelai's hands rested on her hips as she realized the conversation she was having with her daughter. "I so don't need or want to know the answer to this at all, but Rory, have you and Logan had sex at any time in the last three months?" She nodded at Rory's silence. "Then please, for me. Take this test home and for heaven's sake, take it. You don't even have to tell me when you do, if you're so sure it'll be negative, but please, Rory, take this test."

Rory sighed. "When did we become that mother and daughter team who talks about this?" she asked as she reluctantly took the bag and slid it into her purse. "It's going to be negative," she maintained stubbornly.

"If you say so Sweets." Lorelai patted her on the shoulder. They walked out to their cars together. "I'll call you after my appointment, okay?"

"Okay." She leaned in and kissed her mother's cheek. "Be nice to Grandma. I love you." They each got into their cars and headed off towards their respective destinations.

Not long after, Rory found herself in her bathroom staring at the pregnancy test that now stood on the counter. She had come through the door with the intent of taking it immediately just so she could serenade Logan and Lorelai with a round of I-told-you-so's, but the minute the instructions were in her hand she froze. For the last fifteen minutes she had been sitting on the edge of the bathtub, directions fallen at her feet, and staring at the box to her left. She couldn't stop the nagging doubt that had been slowly eating away at her denial for the past couple of weeks and now that she was faced with learning the truth, she wasn't so sure she was ready.

"This is crazy," she muttered to herself. "Stop it, you're not pregnant. You're not." She stood up and stared at her reflection in the mirror. "You're not," she repeated. She set her jaw determinedly and without another thought, took the test. Now all she had to do was wait ten minutes.

At eight minutes and twelve seconds she grabbed her purse and bolted from the loft, barely remembering to lock the door behind her.

Before she knew it, she found herself in an elevator at the Stamford Gazette, on her way to the floor where she knew Logan and Elias were in what she hoped was the last meeting of the day. The elevator doors opened and she tumbled out, not bothering to acknowledge anyone on her way to the conference room. She found the one she knew Logan was in and before she could stop herself, flung the door opened.

Logan, Elias and at least seven other men looked up at the intrusion. She didn't care. She needed Logan now and she wasn't going to leave without him.

"What the hell..." Elias began angrily, but Logan silenced him and rose to his feet. He excused himself from the group and pushed Rory back out into the hallway and closed the door behind him.

"Rory, what's wrong?" he asked, putting a hand on her arm. "What are you doing here?"

She didn't speak. She couldn't open her mouth. All she could do was grab his hand and drag him back towards the elevator and shove him in.

"What is going on?" Logan asked again. "Rory, what happened?" The elevator closed and she punched at the lobby button with more force than she intended. "Ace, come on, you're scaring me," he said finally. "You can't just show up in the middle of one of my meetings with a crazed look in your eyes and drag me away without telling me what's going on and where we're going!"

She stared at their reflection in the elevator doors. When she spoke, she didn't recognize her own voice. "What's going on is that there is a pregnancy test laying on the counter in our bathroom at the loft and I don't know what the results are yet." She finished as they reached the lobby and the doors slid open again.

It was Logan who grabbed her hand this time and dragged her out of the building. "We'll get your car later. I'll drive."

They stood facing their door, neither making the move to enter the loft. "This is stupid," Logan said finally.

"If it's so stupid, you open the door," she hissed.

"Its your test we're hiding from," he pointed out.

"Because you're making me take it."

"I didn't even know about it! What's the matter Ace, think it's positive?" He was trying to keep his

tone light but they both picked up on the slightly panicked edge.

She glared at him. "It's not," she said, pushing the door open defiantly. The first hurdle was crossed, they were inside the loft, now they just needed to make it into the next room. "You go," she pleaded, pushing Logan towards the bathroom door.

He resisted, standing firmly in his spot. He caught her hand as she continued to push against him.

She started to protest but he held a finger to her lips. "We'll go in together, okay?" he suggested. "We'll both go in there and look at the test, and whatever it says—"

"It'll say I'm not pregnant," Rory insisted.

"And then we'll go ahead with our plans for the day and I'll never bring up the idea of you being pregnant ever again," Logan finished. He squeezed her hand again. The silent _what if_ hung over them heavily as they simultaneously took deep breaths and turned to face the bathroom door. With a deathlike grip on Logan's hand, Rory led him into the bathroom. The test was of course, right where she left it, and blessedly, she couldn't see the results from where she was standing. "You ready?" Logan asked, picking the test up and looking at Rory.

_No_, she thought inwardly as she shook her head yes. She bit her lower lip and waited as Logan turned the test over in his hand. Their eyes connected before they both lowered their gazes to his hand.

_Positive_.

"It's wrong," she said immediately, backing away from Logan, from the test, from it's results.

Logan sighed. "Rory, I—"

"It's wrong!" she repeated. "It's been sitting here for over an hour, that's probably not the best conditions for results, it's wrong, I'm not pregnant."

"I don't think that's how they work," Logan said patiently. "Rory, you need to calm down, we have to—"

"I want a new test," she interrupted. "I'll take a new test, and it'll be negative."

"Damn it, Rory!" Logan slammed his hand down on the bathroom counter, causing her to jump. "We need to talk about this! Another test isn't going to prove anything we don't already know."

"What I know is that I'm not pregnant," Rory insisted. "Go get another test, Logan!"

"Are you kidding me? I'm not walking into any store and buying that," Logan said with shake of his head. "No way, Ace."

"Are you kidding me?" Rory's voice was reaching pitch levels he had never heard before. "How old are you, Logan?"

"Now is not the time to for you to be talking about maturity," he snapped. "Rory, this test is positive."

"And it's _wrong_." She looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Logan, please. I don't care what you do, I want another test. You're Logan Huntzberger, can't you just make a phone call or something?"

He could, they both knew that he could, but at the moment, all he wanted to do was grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. If this test was right, and he was pretty sure that it was, she was pregnant, and they needed to talk about that. Instead of shaking her though, he looked into her desperate eyes again and sighed. For as much as he wanted to freak out right now, Rory was taking her freaking out to another realm, and he immediately felt the need to calm her down, to protect her. Another test wouldn't hurt, he rationalized. He shook his head again and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed a number and put the phone to his ear, not taking his eyes off of Rory. "Yes, this is Logan Huntzberger and I need you to run an errand for me." Rory smiled gratefully at him and she mouthed a silent _thank you _to him.

* * *

"Can we talk about this now?" Logan asked. Two hours had passed and they were sitting in the living room with three positive pregnancy tests on the coffee table. That was four positives, if you counted the one still in the bathroom, and as Logan had suspected, not one negative. "Rory?"

"I just... I can't..." she shook her head and shut her eyes. She wasn't as surprised as she should be, given the degree to which she had denied that this was even happening. It was easy to deny before, she could rationalize everything that was happening to her as anything but what it really was. Truthfully, she had nearly convinced herself that she wasn't. Now there was no denying it. Not with the reality of four positives staring her in the face. She was pregnant, she really was, and she couldn't bring herself to say the words aloud. She couldn't even open her eyes and look at Logan.

"Rory," he tried again. He had a thousand questions he wanted to, _needed_ to, ask her, but first he had to get her to look at him.

She forced her eyes open and lifted her head to meet his gaze. She didn't know what she was going to say to him and before she could come up with anything she felt the now-familiar pangs of nausea come over her. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" she muttered, covering her mouth with one hand and running toward the bathroom.

Tears stung and spilled from her eyes as she emptied her stomach of her lunch, and likely her breakfast as well. She coughed, waiting for the feeling to subside, only to have it worsen, and she leaned forward again. Maybe it was punishment for refusing to face the truth a month ago, this never-ending morning sickness, she thought. It was in that instant that she realized she knew nothing about being pregnant. What if the lack of medical attention, or not taking enough vitamins was the cause of her nonstop nausea? Or the coffee? She not only refused to give up drinking coffee even after she stopped lying to herself but made a point of drinking it to keep everyone else from suspecting anything was wrong. What if she wasn't sleeping enough? Or sleeping too much?

Somewhere in the middle of her internal rant against herself she heard Logan come into the bathroom and kneel down behind her. She didn't have time to acknowledge him before she was sick again, and felt a wave of fresh tears in her eyes as he gathered her hair off of her neck with one hand, and rubbed her back with the other.

"You okay?" he asked softly after a few minutes. Her stomach had finally settled and her cries had died down to whimpers. She nodded with a hiccupping cough, but didn't move from her position. Her knuckles were nearly as white as the porcelain she was gripping and he gently pried her fingers away and got her to sit back against the wall. He handed her a glass of water and waited for her to rinse her mouth out before settling against the wall opposite of her. "At least now we know you're not seriously sick," he said, not knowing what else to say.

"You made me drink!" she blurted out, remembering Mitchum's wake. It was one more thing she could add to her ever-growing Bad Mommy list.

"I..." He blinked at her. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm not supposed to have alcohol," she explained. "Or coffee, or shrimp, or.. God, we had sushi three times last week! I can't remember the last time I actually ate a vegetable that wasn't deep fried and battered, who knows what else I've been doing wrong?" She gripped the glass in her hands tightly. "We can't do this, Logan, I cannot do this. I don't know how to be a mom! Aren't I supposed to know this now? I'm pregnant! I should know what the hell I'm supposed to do, not be listing all of the things I've been doing that I shouldn't!"

"Well, we've gotten past the first step, Ace," he said finally, giving her a small smile.

"What are you talking about? And why are you so calm? This isn't a calm situation, Logan. This is a definite freak out situation."

He laughed, nudging her foot with one of his own. "I'm just saying, you finally admitted it. Think you might want to say it again? Maybe without the ranting?

Her eyes finally connected with his and she was surprised at what she saw. She had just told Logan, Logan Huntzberger mind you, that she was pregnant, and he was merely sitting across from her on their bathroom floor, smiling at her. Smiling! He wasn't angry, he wasn't running out the door, he was... was he happy? She felt the beginnings of a smile tug at her mouth and she nudged his foot this time.

"You know this baby is yours, right?"

He laughed at her, capturing her foot in his hand. "I assumed so, yes."

She nodded. "I'm terrified Logan," she admitted. "Why aren't you terrified?"

"I'm scared out of my mind Rory," he replied. "But we can't both be nutcases right now, can we?" He was fighting to keep the situation light, he couldn't admit to her all of the concerns and worries that had been accumulating since she came to get him at the office.

She nodded silently, relieved to know that she wasn't the only one scared by this. They looked at each other for a long moment before she finally dared a small smile of her own. "I'm pregnant," she repeated softly, not breaking their gaze.

Logan didn't flinch. "You are," he agreed, pulling her closer to him by her foot. "Is it okay if I kiss you now?" he asked. "Because honestly Ace? So far this really isn't the story I want to tell our kid about how we found out about it." He grabbed her other foot, pulling on both until he had her sitting sideways over him. He inched closer and was about to kiss her when she lurched away, smacking his chest.

"Logan, no!" She scrambled up off the floor.

"What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his chest and mock-glaring at her. "I gotta say, not really an improvement to the story."

She opened up the medicine cabinet and looked for the toothpaste. "Do you realize where we are and why we're in here? I threw up not ten minutes ago. You so sure you want to kiss me now?"

She had a point. "I'll meet you back out in the living room when you're done?" he asked, rising to his own feet.

Rory nodded. "We're both writers, we can make up an amazing story if we need to," she mumbled around her toothbrush.

He laughed, watching her from the doorway for a moment. "Actually, I think I kind of like this version," he said, catching her eye in the mirror. He winked at her before shutting the door and letting her finish in private.

Once out in the living room, Logan let out a breath he wasn't even aware he had been holding. For all of his suspicions earlier, he had never really stopped and considered what would happen if Rory really was pregnant. He had been lucky in that he had never been anywhere near being in this position before but now that he was, he had no idea how to handle it. He had no idea how to be a father, his parents had hardly been the role models he needed, or wanted. He didn't even know how to handle Rory's meltdowns at this point, other than diffusing the situation with humor. He doubted that would work every time though. His eyes wandered over to the bar but a drink was the last thing he needed right now; he needed to think this through with a clear head.

They could do this. There was no reason they couldn't, really. Sure, they were young, but they weren't that young. By the time his mother was his age, she had been married and had two children. Money wouldn't be a problem for them. They hadn't necessarily talked about it, but the possibility of marriage certainly wasn't that far of a reach for them. Logan turned around and caught sight of one of his suitcases sitting near the front door.

_Fuck_.

He was leaving for London in the morning. Up until now he had forgotten about that. That was one thing that didn't mesh at all with the new plan forming in his head. After a beat, he grabbed his phone off of the table and began dialing his grandfather's office.

"Who are you calling?" He snapped his phone shut and turned around to find Rory emerging from the bathroom finally. She looked at him shyly from the doorway, and he noticed that she had taken the time to brush her hair and fix her make-up.

"I was going to order us dinner, but then I realized you may not be hungry right now," he lied. He held out his hand, waiting for her to come closer. "So..." he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her into him. "Can I kiss you now?" he asked.

"Still want to?" she asked.

He nodded. "Absolutely," he said, bringing her flush against him before lowering his mouth to hers. A few seconds passed before she began to pull away from him only to have him draw her in tighter. One of his arms locked securely around her waist while his free hand moved to the back of her neck, fisting into her hair as he deepened their kiss. Before either of them could realize it, he was walking her slowly toward their bed.

She stopped him after a few steps, pressing her hands against his chest to create a tiny bit of space between them. "Logan…"

"Rory." He leaned his forehead against hers, breathing heavily. "I don't want to talk right now," he said finally. And he didn't, he really didn't. After tonight, their lives were going to be changed one hundred percent; it wasn't going to be just them anymore. It wasn't going to be Logan and Rory. Starting tomorrow, it was going to be Logan, Rory, and a baby, and for as okay as he was trying to be about the situation, there was still a part of him that wasn't. He didn't want to think about that now, and he definitely wasn't about to let Rory know that either.

There was another part of him that was being entirely selfish. From this point on, he would have to share her, and Logan never did share very well. He wasn't saying that Rory belonged to him, he was smart enough to never equate it to that, at least not vocally, but truthfully she was his. He was also aware that this was a horrible way to think and while he knew he should feel guilty about it, he couldn't. Not right now with her in his arms and his lips on hers. Tomorrow, he promised himself inwardly. Tomorrow he would start acting like a father.

Tonight, he just wanted to be himself.

"I don't want to talk," he repeated, bringing her close for another kiss. "Please?" She nodded against him and it was the only encouragement he needed as he coaxed her legs around his waist and carried her the rest of the way to their bed.

* * *

"Don't worry Pete," Logan tried to keep his voice low as he wrapped up his phone call. "That will all be taken care of, I promise. I'll take care of my grandfather. No, thank you Pete, I appreciate it. I know you'll do great there. Okay. I'll be in contact after you've settled in. Bye." He looked over his shoulder to make sure Rory was still asleep and saw that she not only was, but that in her sleep, she had taken over his side of the bed. He watched her a moment longer before turning back to his phone and dialing. He wasn't surprised to be connected to Elias' answering service, he had expected it. It was his whole reason for calling in the middle of the night. He left a message, asking his grandfather to call him first thing in the morning, though it would be safe to assume the phone call would come with or without the message.

"There you are."

Logan closed his phone again and turned around. "Hey, I didn't wake you, did I? I was trying to be quiet." He didn't stop his eyes from traveling over her body, noting that rather than getting dressed she had merely thrown on his dress shirt from earlier that day, and had it buttoned up haphazardly. She was absolutely gorgeous, from the tangled curls that spilled around her shoulders to her still flushed cheeks, right down to her perfectly tanned legs. He felt himself staring and she noticed too, making a face at him as she came around the kitchen island.

"You didn't wake me," she assured him, snapping him out of his thoughts. "But it's late, Logan."

She yawned to make her point. "What are you doing up?"

He shrugged. "I thought you might get hungry, I know I was starved." He smirked at her and she hit his shoulder. "I also had to make a few phone calls," he admitted with a nod toward his phone.

"About London." A hundred emotions crossed over her face in a matter of seconds and he realized she hadn't even thought about London until that moment. He opened his mouth again but she beat him to it, an outpour of indignation falling from her lips.

"Logan Huntzberger, how dare you? How can you sit her so calmly and make arrangements for London _now_? Now, when not eight hours ago we learned we were having a baby? You can't be serious! You're going to leave me here alone and go off to London for God knows how long? That's great Logan, that's really special." She shook her head miserably. "I knew this was going to happen, I knew I was going to end up alone. I can't believe you, Logan, I can't bel-"

"I'm not going," he interrupted her calmly.

Her mouth hung open. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"I'm not going to London," he repeated. "I was just on the phone with Pete from one of the New York papers, he's going to be going to London in my place today."

"You're not going," she repeated. She shook her head. "Oh Logan, what about Elias? Once he hears this, he's going to-"

"Once he hears this, Pete will already be halfway to London and I'll have something figured out to tell him," he said with a shrug. "Rory, did you really think I'd go?"

"I don't know," she said helplessly. "I didn't really think about it today, I had actually forgotten about it," she confessed. A big smile spread across her face. "You're really not going?" she asked hopefully.

"I'm really not going," he confirmed with a smile matching her own. He was going to say more but she interrupted him, squealing and launching herself into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. She pulled back just far enough to be able to kiss him sweetly. For a moment he considered taking her back to bed but before his thoughts got the best of him he heard her stomach rumble and remembered his reason for being in the kitchen in the first place. He grasped her waist with both hands to lift her up. Spinning her around, he set her down on the kitchen island and pulled away with her. "You're hungry," he said with a grin.

"Starving," she confessed.

"So what'll it be, Ace?" He opened the refrigerator and looked back at her. "We've got leftover Italian, and leftover something I don't recognize that we should probably throw out..." He made a face and looked over his shoulder. "I think the one Chinese place down the road is open, we could get takeout?" he suggested.

She yawned and stretched her arms out over her head. "Ice cream?" she suggested brightly. Logan laughed at her, but turned back to the freezer and pulled out several containers of ice cream. For the next few minutes he busied himself making their snack while she watched. "I'm sorry for what I just said," she said softly, looking down at her toes. He didn't answer her so she kept going. "I didn't mean it when I said I was going to be alone. I wasn't thinking, I was upset. I had forgotten about London, but all of a sudden there it was, and I thought you were still going and, " she sighed, her shoulders rising and dropping with her breath. "I was a jerk. I'm sorry." Logan was still silent and she bit her lower lip, afraid he was still angry. "Logan?"

Finally, he turned around and she was relieved to see a smile on his face as he did. He shrugged and handed her a spoon. "Low blood sugar and mood swings," he dismissed easily. He planted a kiss on the top of her head and grabbed his own spoon. "Don't think I'm going to let you get away with it every time though."

"I'll choose my battles wisely," she said with a smirk. They ate in silence for a moment, before she laughed again. "Elias is going to be furious, isn't he?" she asked. She knew it wasn't funny, but she couldn't help but laugh as she pictured what his reaction was going to be.

Logan nodded. "It's going to be a rough few days," he admitted. "But, there isn't much he can do about the situation, everything's going to be fine, and as he so loves to tell me, it is my company to do what I want with now."

"I guess." A shadow crossed over her face. "Did you tell him about this?"

"No." Logan shook his head emphatically. "That's a bus I'm not about to throw you under anytime soon," he promised. He took a bite of ice cream and thought for a moment. "Though eventually, we are going to have to everyone." He grimaced at the thought, hearing his family's objections in his head. "I think we should wait," he proposed. "I mean, at least until you're further along, you know? We, you especially, don't need all of the drama this could potentially create between our families."

"You're right," she agreed. "But..." she looked down at their ice cream again. "I don't know that we can wait too long before I start showing."

Logan put his spoon down and looked at her. "How far along are you?" he asked. "Do you know?"

"I've got a pretty good idea," she admitted. She took a deep breath. "Since before you went to London." She said the words quickly and took another bite of ice cream, not meeting Logan's eyes. She had done the math at least twenty times during the day.

He sucked in his breath and she could tell he was the one doing the math in his head now. "Rory, that was almost three months ago!"

She continued to study her hands. "I know," she said softly. Taking a deep breath, she finally lifted her eyes to his. "Logan, I couldn't be pregnant, don't you get that?" she asked, a rush of emotions sweeping through her. "I was here, you were in London, Logan, we were barely talking! I was so angry with you still and we were falling apart. A baby doesn't fit with any of that!"

"But you were pregnant, Rory," Logan said harshly. "You _are_ pregnant, and here we are, we're fine. How could you ignore this for three months?"

"I was scared!" Her eyes filled with tears as she kept talking. "Honestly Logan, I didn't know right away. That month you were gone, I was so busy trying to do everything I could to not think about you or us, I never noticed anything was off. And then Mitchum died and you were back, and we..." her voice trailed off softly. "I guess maybe it was in the back of mind when I started feeling off, but I never thought it was a real possibility until you brought it up in New York." She sighed. "I couldn't be pregnant," she repeated quietly. "I convinced myself that I wasn't, I made myself believe it was anything but that. Until today."

"Is it really so horrible Rory?" Logan asked. "Is the idea of having a baby so horrible that you had to convince yourself you weren't?"

"You don't understand," she said, shaking her head. "Up until twenty minutes ago, you were leaving," she pointed out. "I would have been dealing with this on my own, and I had no idea how I was going to do that. I still don't know how I'm going to do it."

"How we're going to do it," he corrected her. He sighed. "And you're right, I have no idea either, but that doesn't mean I'm going to pretend it's not happening." He sighed as he turned to put the empty ice cream bowl in the sink before facing her again. "No more hiding, okay Rory? We'll figure this out. Whatever we end up doing, we're doing together." He helped her off of the counter and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "No more hiding," she promised. She paused. "Except from our families, right? We're not going to tell them right away, are we?"

Logan chuckled. "Not anytime soon, no," he agreed. They headed back towards the bed, turning the lights off along the way. "Although, don't you want to tell Lorelai?" he asked. "I'm surprised you haven't already called her." They climbed back into bed and Rory laughed as he pulled the covers back up around them.

"Actually..." she rested her head on his shoulder and filled him in on her mother's own pregnancy.

"You two really do do everything together, don't you?" he asked, kissing the top of her head. They were quiet for a moment and Logan felt Rory sigh against him. "What is it?" he asked.

She shook her head, her hair tickling his chest. "She hasn't told Luke," she told him. "What if she hasn't told him because it's not his? What if..."

"Hey." Logan shushed her. "You have enough right now to think about without worrying about your mom. I know that's hard for you to do, but Lorelai will be okay; and whoever the father is, she'll tell them when she's ready to."

"I know, I just wish she'd tell me." Rory sighed. "I hate when we have secrets."

"She'll tell you," Logan said. "She hates secrets more than you do, I've never known her to keep one for very long."

"I hope you're right." Rory yawned again and curled her body closer around his. "I'm really happy you're staying," she murmured sleepily, burying her face in the crook of his neck. "I think I would have missed you too much."

"Same here," he said, grazing his fingers up and down her back as she drifted off back to sleep. He closed his eyes, trying to block out all of the thoughts that were tumbling around. After several unsuccessful attempts he opened his eyes again and stared down at the sleeping girl in his arms. He briefly wondered how she could sleep right now before remembering just how easily she had been falling asleep lately and figured it to be part of being pregnant. He envied her; he didn't think he'd be falling asleep anytime soon. She shifted in her sleep, moving so that she lay half over him and he stilled his hand on her back, waiting to see if she'd wake up or not. She stayed sleeping, mumbling incoherently into his chest as she sometimes did and her hand found its way into his.

He couldn't help but smile as she settled deeper into her sleep and his own eyes began to feel heavy. He wasn't sure about much of anything at the moment, but the one thing he knew was that he had made the right choice in staying. There was no place he'd rather be.


	6. Chapter 6

"I hate to tell you I told you so, but can I tell you I told you so?"

"Stop it!" Rory moaned and buried her face in her hands. It was the following afternoon and Rory had opted to make the drive out to Stars Hollow to share her news with Lorelai. Her reasons for going had been twofold. One being that her mother would never have forgiven her for telling her something like this over the phone, the other reason being that the loft wasn't exactly a pleasant place to be at the moment. Elias had nearly knocked down their door the second he realized Logan wasn't on a plane to London and had been making Logan's life generally miserable ever since. After nearly three hours of screaming, Logan had finally persuaded Rory to leave for awhile, assuring her that he could handle Elias and that she didn't need to be there to hear any of what was being said. It didn't take much to convince her, and she had slipped out of the loft the minute Elias' back was turned.

"Okay, okay I'm stopping. Oh wait!" Lorelai slapped her hands against her knees. "Remember that time I told you you were pregnant and you kept saying you weren't, but you _were_? I so told you so!" she laughed gleefully. "Oh Kid, I'm sorry." She toned her smile down as she saw the look on Rory's face. "Come on now, you have to admit it, it is funny."

"It's not!" Rory cried petulantly. "Mom, this is serious! Logan and I are not ready for a baby. I don't know that I even like kids. Do I like kids?"

"Nobody really likes kids, but you always like your own," Lorelai assured her. She leaned back against the couch. "Honey, listen to me." She waited until Rory looked at her. "I get that you're overwhelmed right now, believe me, I totally get it. You know what else I know?"

"That I'm going to be the worst mother ever?"

"No, that you're going to be a great mom." Lorelai leaned over and tucked a strand of hair behind Rory's ear. "You do have it in you, you'll see. And let's face it, you had the best possible role model ever."

Rory finally cracked a smile. "This is true, I learned everything I know from Annie Camden."

"See, there's a joke! A horrible, not very funny one, but a joke nonetheless." Lorelai slung her arm around Rory's shoulder. "This is weird," she mused, resting her head against her daughter's. "Who would have ever thought we'd both be pregnant at the same time? The Grandparents are going to have a field day with this!" She laughed in spite of herself. "Please, can I be there when you tell them? Can you imagine the looks on their faces? Their two girls, unwed and knocked up at the same time. It's just too funny." She straightened up suddenly. "What do you think the Huntzberger's are going to say?"

Rory shuddered. "It won't be pretty, that's for sure. Elias already blames me for Logan not leaving this morning. And I suppose he's right, I am the reason he's staying, but if he only knew." She sighed, recalling the accusations that Elias had thrown her way that morning before Logan could stop him.

"Yeah, let's talk about that," Lorelai suggested. "So London's definitely not in the cards anymore?"

"Doesn't seem to be."

"You gotta be pretty psyched about that," Lorelai prodded.

"I am."

Lorelai stared at her daughter. "Yes, I can tell by your tone of voice just how thrilled you are that the man you love isn't leaving the country anymore." She sighed. "Rory, I know you're upset right now, I know you feel completely lost, but here's the thing; sulking isn't going to help. Cheer up! We should be, no scratch that, we _need _to be celebrating right now. This is a good thing, even if it doesn't seem like it right now. For both of us," she allowed.

Rory smiled again. "Okay _Grandma_," she said teasingly.

Lorelai pretended to look horrified. "A mom and a grandma at the same time. I'm telling you, we could get rich from this, Kid. TLC will be offering us our own show any day now." She stood up and stretched. "Until then, we're going to celebrate. I'll go grab us a snack." Her eyes lit up. "You know what this means, right? We really can eat whatever we want now and not have to defend ourselves to anyone. We're eating for four now."

Rory laughed. "We've always eaten for four," she pointed out.

"So? That's not going to stop me from using it as an excuse for the rest of this pregnancy." Lorelai shrugged. "Sit tight, I'll be right back." She was halfway to the kitchen when she stopped and turned around, snapping her fingers. "Do you know what I just remembered?"

"What?"

"I told you so!" She cackled as she danced into the kitchen.

Rory shook her head and picked up a book that was laying on the coffee table. It was one of Lorelai's pregnancy books and she made a mental note to head to the bookstore as soon as she could to start her own collection. She flipped through it, scanning the first couple of pages. _What to expect during the first trimester_. So much for that; from what she knew, she was nearly through that stage already. The more she read through what she had missed, the more upset she got, so she snapped the book shut before she thought about it anymore. She heard something coming from outside and went over to the window. "Hey Mom?" she called into the kitchen.

"Yeah?"

"Grandma's here."

"If that's your way of getting back at me for me telling you I told you so, then that's just not funny." Lorelai came back into the living room and peered out the same window as Rory. "Are you _kidding_ me, what is my mother doing here?"

Rory shrugged. "She's got a lot of stuff in the back of the car it looks like," she pointed out. "You can't be mad if she's bringing you presents."

"Yeah but they're not for me, they're for the baby." She threw a look towards Rory. "You better get used to that too, no more presents for you! There's going to be a new grandchild for my parents to love and adore and coddle. You are about to officially become that older sibling that went bad and let herself get knocked up before the wedding."

"You're really making me thrilled about this whole baby thing," Rory said dryly as they watched Emily struggle with pulling bags out of her backseat. "If Grandma's here though, I should get going," she said reluctantly.

"What? No! Rory, stay! It'll be fun." Lorelai backed down at the look on Rory's face. "Okay, maybe not fun, but it'll be better than going back to your place and watching the Logan smack down."

Rory sighed. "That's exactly why I should be home," she pointed out. "He's probably more than ready for me to run interference."

"Are you sure?" Lorelai needled. "You could stay the night if you wanted, I could share my pregnancy horror stories with you."

"I can't, I really need to get back home. Are you going to go out there and help her?" They both watched as a bag fell from Emily's hands.

"No way." Lorelai held her hands up. "In case you forgot, I'm pregnant. No heavy lifting for me according to Emily herself. You should see the list of things she's told me I'm not longer allowed to do. No coffee, no hot baths, no tattoos," she recited, ticking the items off on her fingers. "You just wait Missy, your turn is coming. And not only will my mother soon be telling you what you can and can't do, she'll be telling you what Logan will need to be doing too." Lorelai's eyes glinted. "Sure you won't stay?"

"After that? Yeah, I'm sure." She reached over and hugged her mother. "Besides," she said with a dramatic sigh. "I have my man to get back to. You know, seeing as how now that I'm pregnant, he'll expect me to be barefoot and in the kitchen when he comes home from work, with dinner waiting on the table."

"See! Emily's already gotten to you, hasn't she?"

Rory laughed. "Thanks Mom. For everything. I'll call you later this weekend, okay?"

Lorelai reached her arms around Rory and pulled her in for a tight hug in unstated acknowledgment that they both needed one. "You better. You promise?"

Rory nodded. "Have fun with Grandma," she teased. She grabbed her purse and opened the front door. "Love you."

"Love you too. Call me if you need me. Anytime, anywhere, blah blah blah, you know the drill. Bottom line is, I'm here." Lorelai walked out onto the porch herself. "Hi Mom!" she said brightly with a wave.

"Hi Grandma!" Rory said, pausing in the driveway to hug Emily. "I didn't expect to see you today."

"Hello Rory." Emily looked her up and down. "You seem to be looking better. We certainly missed you at dinner last night. I assume you'll be to next week's?" She set her bags down on the lawn. "Lorelai, is there someone who can help me with these? Where's that strange man-child that's always wandering around this town?"

"I've really got to be going, but yes, I'll be there." Rory said, glancing back at her mother. She had no intention of going to that dinner. "Bye Mom!" she called as she opened her car door.

"Bye Kid. Oh hey!" Lorelai came down off of the porch and winked at her. "I told you so!"

"You're funny!" she called out of her window as she drove away with a wave.

"What on earth are you two talking about?" Emily asked, straightening her jacket. "I swear, I'll never understand the two of you."

"Sure you will," Lorelai said easily. "Just as soon as I start to understand why you've had over 300 maids and Trix had the same one for nearly thirty years." She grinned. "Come on, let's see if Maury's home next door, he'll help us get this stuff inside." She craned her head toward Morey and Babette's house. "Hey Maury!" she yelled, causing Emily to jump. "Need a little help here!"

"Oh honestly, Lorelai! Keep on yelling like that and your neighbors will think I didn't raise you to have any manners," Emily said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Please Mother, they've lived by me long enough to know I don't have any. I'm not sure if they blame you or not though, we'll ask later." She smiled as Babette stuck her head out her kitchen window.

"Hang tight, Sugar! Maury's on his way!"

"Thanks Babette!" Lorelai turned to Emily. "See? Maury's on his way. So what did you bring me?" She tried to peek into one of the grocery bags that Emily had dropped on the driveway but Emily swatted her away.

"You'll see what I brought you as soon as we're inside," she scolded. Maury appeared next to them, startling her as she took in the sight of the taller man.

"Hey Maury," Lorelai greeted. "Would you mind helping us get these bags into the house?" Emily continued to stare at him as he gathered up the bags and carried the bags into the house, setting them in the kitchen before tipping his hat at the ladies and heading back home, without so much as a word to either of them.

"You can blink now Mom," Lorelai joked. "Now who's the one without manners?"

"I...I'm sorry." Emily blinked. "He's a very tall man, that one."

"Yeah, we grow 'em tall and strange here in the Hollow." Lorelai dug into the bag nearest to her. "So, what did you bring me?" she asked again, eagerly. Her face contorted into a frown as she looked into the bag. "There's nothing but vegetables in this bag."

"So you do know what they are." Emily began unpacking the bags of groceries she had brought with her. "I wasn't sure, since I don't think I've ever seen any of them in this kitchen."

"I eat plenty of vegetables!"

Emily gave her a patient look. "Potato chips and ketchup do not count, Lorelai." She closed the fridge door. "I was doing some reading the other day, and did you know, that organic food is the biggest craze among pregnant women these days? It makes so much sense if you think about it; organic foods don't have any of the pesticides that non-organic does! I couldn't believe the research I was reading, it was awful."

"You drove all the way out here to bring me organic vegetables?"

"And to make sure that you were feeling alright. I was at the doctor with you," Emily reminded her. "Dr. Forsythe said you weren't gaining enough weight." She scrunched her nose as she looked at her daughter. "Turn to the side Lorelai, now that I look at you, you hardly look pregnant."

"If you want me to gain weight, give me a cheesecake, not half a pound of broccoli," Lorelai complained. "I'm fine, Mom. You also heard Dr. Forsythe say that the baby and I were doing just fine."

"Just fine? Just fine isn't acceptable, Lorelai!" Emily shook her head. "What about your vitamins? Are you taking your vitamins every day?"

"Yes. You can count them if you'd like." She watched Emily give the room a once-over, looking for the pill bottle. "Mom! You are not counting my vitamins!"

"Well I never know with you!"

"Mom, come on! I know what I'm doing. I've had a kid before, remember? Her name's Rory, she's pretty and goes to Yale?"

"Oh yes, I remember," Emily snapped. "I wasn't allowed to be a part of it, but I remember just fine."

Lorelai sucked in her breath. So that was what this was all about. "Mom," she began softly.

"No, its fine. You've proven time and time again that you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself without any help from your father and I, but damn it, Lorelai!" Emily sighed, leaning her hands against the table and taking a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry," she said a moment later. "I shouldn't have yelled."

Lorelai moved to stand next to her mother, and opened up the cookbook she had left sitting on the counter. "So organic, huh?" she asked lightly. "Think there's a recipe in here that will make any of this taste like a chocolate milkshake? I've got a serious craving."

"I used to make those for you when you were a little girl," Emily noted. "Especially when you were sick, the only way I could get you to take your pills was to grind them up into the ice cream."

"Emily Gilmore knows how to use a blender? I didn't think that was possible."

"Do you want the milkshake or not, Lorelai?"

"Let's see if I can find the blender."

* * *

"Hello?" Rory poked her head into the loft cautiously, looking around. She saw Logan sprawled out on the sofa with his eyes closed. "Logan?" she closed the door behind her.

"He's gone," Logan replied without opening his eyes. "I don't know for how long, but he's gone for the time being."

Rory ventured over to the couch and sat down next to him, running her hands through his hair to rub his temples. "How bad was it?" she asked gently.

Logan shrugged. "About as bad as could be expected," he answered. "I heard it all from how disappointed Dad would be in me to how he must be turning over in his grave because I'm singlehandedly bringing his company to ruins. Oh, and when I mentioned that Dad managed to run things just fine from here, I had to listen to how he had to pay his dues in London as well, and he did so without a fight. Apparently, I'm nothing like my father and Elias couldn't be more disappointed in me."

"I'm sorry," Rory said sympathetically, leaning down to place a kiss on his forehead. "That's good news though, right?" She asked, trying to make light of the situation. "The not being like Mitchum part?"

Logan opened his eyes and moved off the couch. "My father had his faults Rory, but he wasn't all bad," he snapped.

Rory was taken aback at his words. "I'm sorry," she stuttered. "I didn't mean to..."

He waved her off. "Forget it, I'm sorry." He sighed, "It was just a really bad morning."

"So tell me about it," she pressed.

"I can't, I don't have the time. I've got to jump in the shower and then get to the office."

"The office?" she echoed. "Logan, it's Saturday."

He shrugged. "All hell is going to break loose on Monday when everyone finds out that I'm not in London. Not only do I have to be prepared, I have to have a damn good reason why and an action plan in place."

"You _do_ have a damn good reason why!" she exclaimed. "Remember me? Pregnant girlfriend?"

His expression softened and he crossed the room and put his arms around her. "I don't want you to be a part of this, okay?" he said as he kissed the top of her head. "We have enough stuff to figure out between us as it is, you don't need to be drawn into the whole work drama too." He released her and began to undress, getting ready for his shower. "This is my mess and I'll figure a way out of it, okay?"

"I see." She followed him through the loft as he grabbed a towel out of the linen closet. "I'm so sorry Logan, that me getting pregnant is such a mess for you! I certainly hope you'll figure it out soon enough."

"Rory, I don't have time for this right now," he said tiredly, not wanting to be drawn into one of her mood swings again.

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Well, when would you like to talk about it? When the baby's taking its first steps? We don't have a lot of time here, Logan, make some!"

"You want time? Why not?" he snapped. "Everyone else is demanding all of my time, why not you too?"

"Logan, what is going on?" she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. She brushed at them angrily, cursing her hormones as she did. "What happened this morning?" He didn't answer her. "Logan please."

Finally he turned and looked at her, noticing the tears in his eyes. He berated himself silently for upsetting her. He had to remind himself that this wasn't her fault. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, placing a hand on her face. "I'm sorry." He leaned in and kissed her. "It's going to be a rough couple of days, Ace. So much rougher than the last month has been, but I promise, I won't ever snap at you like that again."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," he said honestly. He pulled her into the bathroom with him. "What I want to hear about is how things went with your mom." He grinned at her as he turned the shower faucets on. "How did she take the news?"

Rory cracked a smile. "Aside from planning our reality television show and singing a round of I told you so's? She was actually pretty excited. Supportive too."

"You knew she would be." Logan grinned up at her. "Feel like joining me?" he asked, gesturing toward the shower.

She hesitated. "Actually, I'm feeling pretty tired," she fibbed. "I think I'm going to go lie down for a bit if you don't mind."

"Not at all. I'll come check on you before I leave." He paused before stepping into the shower. "Hey. We're okay, right?"

"Yeah," she said with a smile. She leaned up to kiss him once more. "We're great," she assured him before leaving the bathroom.

Rory crawled into bed and buried herself under the heavy blanket. She was still reeling from their conversation and she needed to process what had exactly happened and where it had gone wrong. Mentally, she kicked herself for making the Mitchum comparison, or non-comparison rather. Granted, Logan was never his father's biggest fan, but the man had just died. She needed to remind herself of that, and of the fact that Logan was still grieving. He didn't need her pointing out Mitchum's misgivings.

On the other hand, Rory didn't _want _Logan to be like Mitchum, especially now. She had seen the damage having Mitchum for a father had done to Logan, and that wasn't something she wanted for own child. Instinctively, her hand went to cover her mid-section and the action startled her. It was her first maternal instinct and it came at the thought of worrying what kind of father this baby was going to have. Not that her own father was any better of an example of what equaled a good father. She sighed, realizing just how lucky she was to have Lorelai to guide her through this. Immediately she felt guilty, and tried to imagine what was going through Logan's mind if hers was already thinking this way. Of course he wanted to find some good in Mitchum now. From the other room, she heard the water stop running and a few moments later, Logan was standing over her, water dripping from his hair.

"Whatcha thinking about?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

She rolled over onto her back and smiled up at him. "We're going to be parents," she said, her voice full of awe.

"You don't say!" He reached down to tickle her lightly. "Kind of goes hand in hand with that whole having a baby thing, huh?"

"Shush!" She sat up and stuck her tongue out at him. "You'll be working late today, right?"

"Pretty late, why?"

"You're not going in tomorrow, right? Seeing as how it'll be Sunday and all."

"I could take tomorrow off. Any special reason why?"

"You and I are going shopping," she declared. "Book shopping, to be exact. Logan, if we're going to be parents, we need to be prepared, and for that we—"

"Need to buy out the pregnancy section of the bookstore, got it," he finished for her, laughing. "It's a date," he promised. "We'll go out for brunch and then spend the rest of the afternoon at the bookstore, and then I'll bring you home and you can read your little heart out until you're an expert at this whole baby deal, okay?"

"Sounds great," she answered. Her eyes followed him around the room as he got dressed. "Of course, you know this means I'll be spending all day today online figuring out what books to buy."

"Like you'll actually leave a single book in that store." Logan finished tying his tie. "Okay, I'll be back late, probably after dinner. If you need anything, anything at all, call me, okay?"

"I will." She yawned, snuggling deeper into the blankets. She really was getting tired now. "Don't work too hard, okay?"

"I never do," he promised. He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at her for a moment. "I really didn't mean to snap earlier," he said earnestly.

"I know." She threw the blankets to the side and sat up, leaning all the way across the bed to kiss him. "Wake me when you get home?" They both knew he'd be working well past midnight.

"I will." He tucked the covers back around her and waited until she was settled before standing up and grabbing his keys. She watched as he collected the rest of his things and with one last wave, left for the office. Rory lay quietly for a few minutes, trying to fall asleep but her mind was working in overdrive. Finally, she tossed the blankets aside again and collected her laptop, a notebook, and a pen. She had a ton of research to do if she was going to be prepared for the bookstore tomorrow.

* * *

It was almost two in the morning when Logan was finally able to leave the office and head back to the loft. There had been a little more damage control to take care of than he had initially thought, and he and his assistant had spent the better part of the day crafting press releases and other statements to all of the facilities that had been expecting him to be in London. For the most part, the storms seemed to have been calmed before they could really take off, however there was still quite a bit of work that needed to be done before Monday. He took his time putting his things away inside the apartment, moving as quietly as possible so as not to wake Rory. As soon as she woke up he was going to have to cancel their plans for tomorrow and he really didn't count on her being too thrilled over it. He hadn't been thrilled either, when Elias had informed him that he expected to see him bright and early at the office.

He moved slowly over to the bed, taking his tie off as he went. Rory was dead to the world, her laptop still balanced on her lap and her fingers still wrapped loosely around a pen. Bending down, he began collecting her things off of the bed. He glanced down at the papers in his hand and sighed. She had been busy while he was gone, and had compiled lists and lists not only books, but bookstores, and baby stores, and every other list imaginable that they would need. Rory didn't even stir until he moved the computer from her lap.

"Hey," she said sleepily. She looked over at the clock and frowned. "You're just getting home?"

"A few minutes ago," he admitted. "I was trying not to wake you."

"I'm awake," she said, stretching her arms out in front of her. "Rough day?" she asked as he sat down next to her. She ran her hands through his hair and down his back.

"You could say that," he said. "'I'm exhausted." And he was. He didn't remember how he had driven home. His eyes slid shut and he felt her own hands working at finishing removing the tie he had only untied, and undoing the buttons on his shirt. "Whatcha doing there, Ace?" he asked, his eyes still closed.

She chuckled softly. "Just getting you ready for bed," she said. "No funny business, I swear."

"Too bad." He turned sideways to look at her. "So, tomorrow," he began carefully.

Her eyes lit up and he cringed. "We have so much to do," she said, nodding at the pile of papers Logan had just moved to the desk. "I was online pretty much all day, I had no idea about some of the stuff that we're going to need, or what we need to start doing now, so that we're ready for everything." She shook her head. "We'll get a good start, getting all the books I want, we'll be able to game plan a lot better after that." She stopped suddenly, and he knew she was on to him. "Why?" she asked suspiciously. "We're still on for tomorrow, right?"

Logan hesitated. "We are," he said finally. "I was just thinking that since its so late already, that maybe we could skip brunch, go shopping a little later in the day, and then have a late lunch after?" He watched as she relaxed and he knew he couldn't go back on it now.

"Of course," she agreed happily. "That way I can do a little more research in the morning to make sure I haven't forgotten anything."

He laughed. "By the looks of it, I'd say you've done all the research you can." He yawned. "Okay, let's get to sleep then so you can get up and start planning again at the crack of dawn."

She made a face at him as they turned off the lights. "Go ahead and mock me all you want, Mister, but you'd be lost without me and my plans." She waited for him to get settled before curling into his side. "Night," she murmured into his shoulder.

"Night," he echoed quietly. In the dark he stared over at the shelf where he had set his cell phone, wondering just how early he was going to have to wake up to make the phone call to Elias, explaining why he wasn't going to be in the office at all until Monday. His eyes drifted down to Rory who was already half asleep and for the first time, he realized it might be more difficult than he thought to keep the balance between his time with Rory and his time at work. He was too tired to worry about it right now, he thought as his own eyes started to close.

He'd just add it to the list of things he would worry about later.


	7. Chapter 7

Shopping for books was easily one of Rory's favorite things to do, but shopping for pregnancy books? It was decidedly harder than she ever imagined it could be. Not only were there literally hundreds of authors and titles to choose from, but the categories! Did she want to be a traditional or a hip mom? Were they going to go the new age spiritual route, or did she prefer to read pregnancy tips from Tori Spelling? Okay, so the last one was definitely a no, but the others were making her head spin.

Logan was doing his best to be helpful, but he had quickly learned it was easier to just stand back and hold on to whatever book she handed to him as she kept searching the aisles. By the middle of the day though, they were both getting frustrated as Logan's cell phone was ringing insistently and had been ever since nine that morning.

As he had predicted, Elias had been furious when Logan had informed him he wouldn't be at the office that morning, and he had been taking his anger out on Logan's cell phone, directing any one with any questions about Logan's transition to call Logan directly. Logan had tried to brush it off when Rory had questioned him about it, as he didn't want her to know that he should have been at the office instead of being with her at the bookstore.

"Two minutes," he promised her as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket again. He saw the look on her face and had it to his ear and was walking away before Rory could even protest. Not that it would have mattered anyway, she rationalized, thinking of the half-dozen phone calls he had already taken since they had left the house this morning. "Huntzberger," she heard him say into the phone, and she cringed before she could stop herself. It was jarring to hear just how much he sounded like Mitchum at times. She watched his back for a few moments; he was talking animatedly, gesturing with his hands, and she chuckled when he almost knocked over a display of paperbacks. She shook her head, trying to ease the discomfort brought on by similarities between Logan and Mitchum. Wandering through the aisles, she searched for the next book on her list. One title jumped out her.

_The Expectant Father_. It wasn't on her list, but she pulled it from the shelf anyway and flipped through it. On first glance, it seemed like every other book she had looked through, the only difference being obviously, that it was geared towards men. As she looked closer, she realized it did have some things in it that weren't necessarily covered in her own books. And more importantly, it gave a guy's perspective on the whole pregnancy thing, which would probably make it a good book to have on hand. Her mouth twisted into a smirk as she flipped past the page detailing how their sex life would be changed from here on out. "No complaints yet," she muttered, thinking that if the last couple of days were any indication of how their sex life was going to be then they were going to be more than fine. She continued reading along, smiling at some of the anecdotes she came across until one of the passages took the grin right off of her face.

"Something fascinating?" Logan asked from behind her as he peered over her shoulder.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and tried to shut the book before he could see what she was reading. He was the quicker of the two, and managed to get the book from her hands. "Logan!" she protested, trying to get the book back.

He held her at arms length with one hand while using the other to open up to the page she had left off on. Glancing down at the content, he glanced back up at her with his eyebrow quirked. "I don't think we're going to have any problems with this," he said, echoing her own thoughts from earlier. She bit her lip as he clearly began to read the offending passages.

"So." He shut the book abruptly and looked down at her. "Oh come on Rory. You don't think I'd actually do that, do you?" He shook his head in disgust. "Any man that cheats on his girlfriend because she's pregnant and actually uses that fact as an excuse is a coward and not much of a man to begin with. I'd never do that to you, you know that." He was startled to see the doubt in her eyes.

Rory meanwhile was fighting every urge to point out that he'd already cheated on her once because she knew they would only end up arguing over the semantics if she did.

"Ace, no," he said firmly. "Don't even think it because it's not going to happen. I would never cheat on you. No matter what."

_Again_, she added silently.

"Rory." He pulled her into his arms, dropping the book on the shelf behind them. "We trust each other," he murmured into her hair. "Remember? When I came back from London we agreed that the only way we were going to work was if there was complete trust. Are you going back on that promise now?" He waited until she shook her head against him. "So then you have to trust that I'm not going to take the coward way out here, okay? Trust that I want to be here, that I'm not going anywhere." He groaned as his cell phone rang again, causing her body to go rigid against him.

Rory pulled away slowly and attempted a smile. "You better get that," she said softly. "I'll be over in that aisle." She pointed in the direction she was heading and didn't wait for him to respond before taking off.

Logan cursed under his breath as he watched her run away before raising the cell phone to his ear. "Is there anyone you haven't given my phone number to today? It's Sunday, Grandfather," he said irately.

"Which makes tomorrow Monday, and more importantly your first official day at work. So maybe you could explain to me why I'm the one in the office now fielding phone calls as to why you're not in London yet?"

"Because that's what my assistant is for and so far, she's doing a fantastic job. Maybe yours could get some tips from her." Logan began flipping through the book he still had in his hands.

"This is no time for glib, boy. The office is in complete disarray. No one knows what's going on and I thought maybe you would, you know, take the initiative to start acting as the leader you're supposed to be."

"Everything was under the control the last time I checked in, which wasn't more than twenty minutes ago," Logan replied. He was more interested in what he was reading that whatever point Elias was trying to make. He had meant what he told Rory, the thought that any man would willingly use the excuse that his girlfriend or wife was pregnant to cheat on her with no guilt completely disgusted him. As Elias droned on he wondered how many times his grandfather had cheated on his grandmother. Logan had lost count of his father's indiscretions by the time he'd entered high school but he never gave much thought to Elias. Of course, he rationalized, his grandmother had never been what he would consider loving and caring towards anyone, so it wasn't hard to assume that Elias had done his share of cheating. Not that that made it any better, he reminded himself. Logan grimaced as he kept reading, realizing that his predisposition to cheating was almost as great, if not greater than anything else he inherited from his father.

"Are you even paying attention to anything that I'm saying?"

He snapped the book shut and rubbed his eyes tiredly."No Grandfather, to be perfectly honest, I'm not. Go home. Go golfing. Go do anything other than be at work. I will see you fist thing in the morning. Six AM if that will make you happy."

"Five-thirty." Elias hung up before he could respond.

"Great," Logan replied to dead air. He looked over to were Rory was standing and tried to catch her eye. She smiled and waved him over.

Rory watched as Logan slid his phone back into his pocket and headed toward her. She had watched him during the last phone call and had realized he was more interested in the book than in the call itself. The thought at first disheartened her; she was positive that he was getting ideas and planning his escape. Only when she saw him push the book away with a look of disgust she knew he wasn't faking did she feel relieved. Maybe she was overreacting.

"If you buy any more books we're going to need a separate car to bring them home in," Logan joked as he caught two of the books that escaped from her grasp.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're funny. But I am just about done actually." She studied the piles around her. "Who knew there were so many different views on pregnancy?"

"We'll be experts in no time," Logan agreed. "Ready for lunch? I'm starving."

She nodded. "Sure, let's get this taken care of and then we can go." She looked at him hesitantly. "You should grab that book," she said finally.

"What?" Logan looked at her strangely. "Why?"

"It had a lot of other good information in it," she said logically. She picked up another copy of it and added it to their pile. "Besides," she said as she started carrying books up to the counter. "If anything, it'll remind you just how great our sex life is going to be." She turned around and winked at him.

He caught her wrist before she could leave and pulled her back against him. "Trust me, that is the one thing I don't need to be reminded of," he growled in her ear as his lips moved over her neck. She laughed as he kissed her, letting his lips slide over hers for a moment before pulling away.

"Not in front of the books!" she scolded him playfully as she turned to head toward the front of the store again. He just laughed at her and grabbed the books from her hands and made a neat, tall stack of them that he secured under his chin.

"What kind of guy would I be if I let you carry these?" he asked when she gave him a strange look.

"I might just get used to this pregnancy thing after all," she said airily, following him to the counter.

Strangely enough, Logan was thinking the same thing.

* * *

"So do I get to start forcing vegetables on you now?" Logan asked as he watched Rory study her menu.

She snorted, eyeing him from across the table. "Not likely. I highly doubt that my own mother ate vegetables while pregnant with me and I turned out just fine, didn't I?"

"No complaints on how you turned out, but I for one, would like prefer it if our child at least liked vegetables every once in awhile," Logan pointed out. "And in order for that to happen, you'll probably have to eat a few here and there."

Rory scowled at him, but ordered a salad to appease him. "You don't play fair," she grumbled.

"Life's not fair. Besides, you know perfectly well that once Luke finds out Lorelai's pregnant he'll be forcing her to completely change her diet."

"If he's the father," she added with a frown.

"The chances are likely, aren't they?" Logan asked. "I mean, from what you know, your parents only slept together that one night, whereas your mom and Luke..." his voice trailed off, realizing Rory probably didn't want to think about Lorelai that way. "It just makes more sense that it would be Luke's, doesn't it? The chances that just one night with Christopher--"

"All he needs is one night to ruin everything," Rory said bitterly. She gestured to herself. "Living proof."

"You didn't ruin anything for anyone."

"You're right, I didn't But he did. He ruined his life, my mother's life at the time, my grandparents, his family." Rory was rambling by this point but she didn't care. "And let's not forget about everything he's done since then. He's never been around enough to take more than one night to destroy whatever life Mom's built for herself." She shook her head angrily. "It would be perfectly in character for my dad to have swept in on her one night and then have this happen. Because he'll never make anything easy for her. He never wants her to move on and be happy without him."

Logan watched her as she talked about her parents. It wasn't often that Rory opened up about her father, and so he was always surprised at the bitterness in which she spoke about him. He didn't know Christopher save for a few dinners he shared with the two of them, but to him the guy always seemed to be trying to hard, and he knew that Rory was too smart to fall for that.

"What about your mom?" he asked after the server had brought their meals.

"What about her?"

"Do you think she's completely innocent in all of this? That your dad just swooped in and carried her off to bed like a caveman?"

"Maybe," Rory pouted. "I don't know what to think," she said finally. "I don't know who reached out to who, I don't know why they ended up together, I don't know anything because she won't tell me. All I know is that she was with Luke. And she was happy. She was happy with Luke. And then all of a sudden, they're not happy and they're not together, and of course my dad is there to pick up the pieces and then all of this happens."

"And you're angry," Logan pointed out. "Which, under the circumstances is okay, Ace. It's okay to get mad at your mom. Some might even go as far as to say its perfectly normal."

"Not for us it's not," she shot back. "We really haven't disagreed on anything since when I moved into the pool house. I can count on one hand all of the times we've been mad at each other."

"Well count one more because you are," Logan said with a grin. "You might feel better if you admit it," he urged, tapping her foot under the table with his own.

She tried to glare at him but failed miserably. "Shut up and let me eat my salad in peace," she grumbled.

"See? The salad's not so bad, is it?" He laughed as she viciously stabbed at a tomato with her fork. They ate in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before she finally spoke up again.

"I'm just so disappointed in her," Rory finally confessed. She lowered her eyes to study the tablecloth for a moment before raising them to meet Logan's. "And it's not because she slept with my dad. Not really anyways. It's because she lied to me." She shook her head. "My mom's never flat-out lied to me," she finished. She shook her head again. "I'm sorry, I've probably talked to this to death."

Logan grinned. "You talk something to death? Never." He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Think about who you're talking to here. If anyone knows what its like to be lied to by parents, it's me. Though I admit, it hasn't phased me in awhile. They – " his voice trailed off. "My mom," he corrected. "She prides herself on being brutally honest but I think that only applies to disappointing lifestyle choices."

Rory debated letting Logan's slip go but decided against it. "We really haven't talked much about your dad since the will reading," she said carefully. She watched his demeanor change and his posture stiffen but she pressed on. "How have you-"

"I don't want to talk about it," he interrupted her. He knew where she was going, it was the same conversation he had killed for the last month.

"_Logan_."

"_Rory_." His voice held a warning note and his eyes leveled with hers. "I'm fine. Now is not the time to talk about this."

"Then when?" she asked. "I've kept myself from asking you about him, I've waited for you to start the conversation, but you don't. Logan, your dad died. And I really haven't seen you grieve. I have to assume you're fine because you say you are but I don't really believe it because I wouldn't be fine if I was in your place.

_When_? Logan wanted to ask her. _When would he have had time to grieve in the last two months_? "Not now Rory," he said tightly. He shut his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again Rory had that about-to-cry look on her face that he knew all too well. He sighed. "No tears, Ace," he pleaded quietly. "Today's not supposed to be about my dad, or about your mom either. Its about us and celebrating this baby. This family and not that family," he added, gesturing with his hands. He was relieved to see a smile begin to form on her face. "I'm fine," he promised again. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "What do you say we get out of here and get home so you can start filling both our heads with all of the baby knowledge I know you're dying to get started on reading?" He smiled as she nodded reluctantly, a small smile of her own turning her mouth up,

"You're not going to ditch me and my books so you can go to the office are you?" she asked, a hint of teasing behind her accusing tone.

He winced, realizing both how many phone calls he had taken during the day and that she had noticed as well. Slinging an arm around her shoulders he leaned in and kissed her cheek. "No more calls," he promised. "Just you and me in pajamas, reading baby books and watching movies."

She sighed dramatically and leaned her head against his shoulder. "It's a tough life we lead, Huntzberger," she said as they walked back to his car.

* * *

Rory lifted her head from Logan's lap and twisted to face him. "It's killing you right about now, isn't it?" she asked knowingly.

"What is? Watching this movie for the two thousandth time? Yeah, it kind of is," he deadpanned.

She sat up and smacked at his shoulder. "Not answering your phone," she corrected him, In the last hour alone it had rang at least seven times. True to his word though, he hadn't so much as glanced at it each time.

He looked at her apologetically. "I can't turn it completely off," he said.

"I know." She nodded and turned back to the movie for a second. Logan's hands fell back into her hair, playing with the strands absentmindedly. She knew his mind wasn't on her or the movie though and smiled into his leg before reaching over to the coffee table and picking up the phone. "Return your phone calls," she said as she handed it to him. "So long as you don't leave this room you're free to work your little heart out."

"I can't leave this room?"

She shrugged. "I happen to like having you nearby," she replied.

"Can't argue with that." He kissed the top of her head. "Two hours tops," he promised her.

"Mm-hmm." She rolled her eyes and turned the movie off. "I'll give you four," she said generously as she tucked her legs underneath her and picked up one of her new books.

"You're the best." On cue, his phone rang again. He flipped it open almost immediately and Rory shook her head, settling back into the couch. They stayed this way for the next hour, him alternating between phone calls and emails; and her going through her books, taking notes on what she was reading. Logan watched her reading for a moment before speaking up again.

"Have you given any thought to finding a doctor yet?"

"Hmm?" Rory tore her eyes away from her book and looked up at him. "Oh, no I haven't. Well, not really. I was figuring I'd probably go to my mom's doctor, but his next available appointment is two weeks from now."

"His?" Logan echoed. "You want a guy doctor?"

She shrugged. "Mom likes him."

"I'll bet." Logan shook his head and frowned. "I don't like the idea of us waiting two weeks to see that you're okay either."

"I'm fine," she insisted. "It'll be okay."

"I'm sorry. I must have missed you getting your medical degree."

"And just when did you get yours?"

Logan shook his head again. "I don't want to wait," he insisted.

"Well what do you suggest?" Rory asked. She was finding herself very amused by the conversation, but was just as pleased to see Logan so worried.

"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something," he said stubbornly. He looked down at his computer and began typing away again. Rory just laughed and went on with her book.

"Ha!" Twenty minutes later his voice broke through the silence in the room, causing Rory to jump.

"Finally beat level twenty-one of Bejeweled?" she asked dryly.

"Better.I just got us an appointment with Doctor Melanie Meadows for Tuesday morning," he said triumphantly.

"How did you manage that?" she asked, eyebrow raised. Dr. Meadows was considered to be one of the best doctors on the east coast, and from what Rory knew from idle gossip at luncheons with her grandmother's friends, extremely difficult to see if you were a new patient.

Logan shrugged. "Her son plays racquetball with Colin."

"Colin plays racquetball?"

Logan nodded. "He does. And I've met the guy a few times, we've had drinks and such. I figured it wouldn't hurt to email him." He looked at her over the top of his computer screen. "Will Tuesday morning work for you?"

"Yeah, I can make it work."

"Good." Logan smiled satisfactorily and went back to his work, leaving Rory to watch him in peace. All day long he had been completely adorable about this whole baby thing, and his behavior was putting her more and more at ease the more she thought about it or the more they talked about it.

"Do I have something growing out the side of my face?" he asked without looking up at her. When she didn't answer, he looked up at her. "Yes?"

She shrugged happily and gestured to the book in her hands and the other ones spread out around her. "We're really going to do this," she said, the same awe from the day before still creeping into her voice.

Logan nodded his head slowly. "I thought we already agreed on that," he teased. "Because it's a little late to change our minds."

"No!" she stuck her tongue out at him. "What I mean is we can do this," she clarified. Her smile intensified and Logan found himself grinning back. "I might have had my doubts before, but I'm thinking we just might be okay after all."

He held her gaze for a second before nodding back at her. "I think you just might be right about that Ace," he agreed. They grinned goofily at each other for awhile before Logans' cell phone rang. Rory just laughed again and turned back to her book. It didn't take long for her to realize that a tension she hadn't even been aware of had been lifted from the room and that finally, she was beginning to feel excited about everything that was about to happen to them.


	8. Chapter 8

"Rory, you need to calm down, okay?"

She didn't hear him. She was still pacing back and forth next to the car, ignoring the door he held open for her. He watched her for a few moments before eventually grabbing her arm and holding her still.

"Ace!"

She turned and looked at him. "Fifteen weeks," she repeated, her voice still as shrill as it had been in the doctor's office. "Fifteen weeks!"

"Yes Ace, no matter how many times you say it, the time's not going to change. You're fifteen weeks along." He guided her gently into the car and shut the door before crossing over to his side and getting in.

"But that's - that's impossible!" she stuttered. "That's _four_ months. That's almost half over." She grabbed a book off of the dashboard. "That's half of this book that I don't even need to read because it's over and done with!" She flipped to a page and began reading out loud. "See? We don't need to know that, because it's already happened!" She continued on with her rant without stopping for him to respond.

Twenty minutes into their drive she finally stopped talking and took in their surroundings. "Where are we?" she asked suddenly. "Where are we going?"

"Stars Hollow," he said simply.

"Why?"

"Because you are in no shape to be alone right now and I can't abandon my meeting." He turned his car into Lorelai's driveway and cut the engine. "Ace, honey, it's going to be okay."

"How?" she asked. "Logan, how is this going to be okay? I've been pregnant for--"

"Four months. I know, I heard." She glared at him. "Rory, we already thought you were three months along, what's one more month?"

"What's one more month?" she shrieked. "Have you read any of these books? We've missed so much Logan!" She stopped and stared at him suddenly. "I'm sorry, did you just say you were going to your meeting?"

"You've known about this meeting since Sunday, Ace."

"You're not serious!"

"I am!" he insisted. "Rory, I can't back out of this meeting, they're already suspicious because I took the morning and most of the afternoon off on the second day of my first official week. I cannot miss this meeting."

She held his gaze for a moment longer before shaking her head angrily. "Fine, I don't know what I was expecting anyways." She got out of the car, slamming the door so hard that the entire vehicle shook. Logan felt like beating his head against the steering wheel, but instead followed her up the drive.

He watched as she opened the front door and stormed past a confused looking Lorelai. "Rory?" she called to the retreating figure. They both heard the downstairs bedroom door slam close and Lorelai looked back at Logan. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry we just showed up like this," Logan said with a shake of his head. "But I have a meeting I need to get to, and I couldn't leave her alone, and I...I had nowhere else to bring her." He realized he was getting just as good at the babbling thing as Rory was.

"What's wrong?" Lorelai demanded.

"We just had our doctor's appointment," Logan began.

"Yeah, yeah, I know that. Logan, why is my little girl crying her eyes out right now? What did you do?"

He took a deep breath, remembering hormones were not just affecting the younger Gilmore. "She's fine," he said quickly. "The baby's fine, too. We just found out Rory's a little further along than we originally thought," he said, watching as Lorelai visibly relaxed.

"How far?" she asked.

"Fifteen weeks," he admitted sheepishly.

"Oh wow." Lorelai craned her head towards the bedroom. She turned back to Logan. "Okay, I've got it from here. You go take care of your meeting, I'll take care of Little Miss Mommy, and I'll bring her back to your place later tonight, okay?"

"Thanks Lorelai," Logan smiled gratefully.

She waved her hand dismissively. "Hey, it's what I'm here for. Oh, hey!" She waited until he turned to face her again. "Congratulations, Daddy."

He smiled again. "Hey, you too!" They smiled at each other for a moment, and then he nodded and headed back to the car. She closed the door behind him and took a deep breath before turning to go find her daughter.

She found her curled up on her bed, the blankets drawn up over her head. "Hey," she said softly, settling herself on the edge of the bed. "So... pretty exciting day, huh?"

"I can't do this!" Rory cried. "I was starting to think I could, but you know what? I can't. I've changed my mind, it's just not going to work."

"I really don't think you have much of a choice now Hon," Lorelai said, her voice filled with sympathy. "From what Logan just told me..."

"Logan's a jerk," Rory pouted. "None of this is phasing him, he doesn't get how serious this is."

Lorelai sighed and stretched out next to her before pulling the blankets down from over her head. "Oh, I think it's phasing him plenty, he's just not going to react to everything the way you are," she said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that Logan isn't the one whose hormones are getting the best of him at every little thing." Lorelai smiled sympathetically down at her daughter. "Honey, he's a guy, and Lord knows we love the guy-factor, but outside of your baby news, when was the last time you ever really saw him react to anything?"

Her mother was right, Rory realized. She thought back to Mitchum's funeral and how outside of their initial talk at the coffee shop he had barely shown any emotion over his father's death. She sighed. "Okay, so what? So he doesn't show emotion. That doesn't mean he has to treat me like a child every time I overreact to something."

"So you admit you're overreacting to this?"

"No." Rory sighed. "I was getting excited over this, Mom. All weekend, I was reading anything and everything I could about being pregnant, and there were things I was looking forward to experiencing that have already happened, and I missed them. I'm a horrible mother already."

"Oh Rory, you are not." Lorelai ran her hand over Rory's head comfortingly. "Okay so you've missed a couple months of things. Yeah, it sucks but you know what? There's so much more stuff coming up that you haven't missed. So many experiences, so many feelings and changes that you'll never be able to comprehend until they happen." Lorelai chuckled. "And let's face it, most of what you missed was the unpleasant stuff, like worrying you won't make it through the first trimester. You're already past that Hon. You and that baby are healthy and you're going to stay that way. The hard part's over. At least, until your water breaks."

"I thought you were trying to make me feel better?"

"I was, but there's still room for teasing." Lorelai pulled her into a sitting position. "Come on, I've got something that will make you totally think you can be a mom. There's this show, this woman has two six year old's, and six two year old's. It's amazing. And you'll forever thank God you've only got one growing in there." She poked at Rory's stomach. "There is only one, right?"

"Right," Rory confirmed. She allowed her mother to drag her out of the bedroom and into the living room, settling her on the couch before going over to the television and turning it on.

During a commercial break, Lorelai burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Rory asked, twisting around to stare at her mother.

"I'm sorry," she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked down at her. "It's just, how could you not know for four months that you were pregnant?" She dissolved into another fit of giggles.

"Hey!" Rory sat up and glared at her mother. "It's not funny!"

"It is, it so is," Lorelai insisted, still laughing. "I knew after less than a month! Here you are, four months in, and you're just finding out?" She shook her head. "You have to admit, Rory, it is funny. Really, how could you not know?"

"How could you not know who the father of your baby is?" The words were out of Rory's mouth before she could stop them, and they hung over the couch heavily as Lorelai's laughs died off and she stared at her daughter.

"Oh my God, did getting pregnant give you psychic abilities?" They challenged each other with hard looks for a moment before Lorelai took a deep breath. "Okay wow, we're two hormonal women, we need to remember that." She took another deep breath and looked at Rory again. "Want to tell me where that came from?"

"I'm sorry." Rory looked down at her hands. "At Mitchum's wake, Logan and I overheard you and Dad talking outside. We heard you tell him that sleeping together was a mistake."

Lorelai nodded slowly. "Not one of my finer moments, but I had just found out I was pregnant. I was a little bit on edge. And hungry. Really hungry."

"So is it true then?" Rory asked. "It could be Dad's baby?"

"It could be," Lorelai admitted. She took a deep breath and turned off the television before staring out the window. "I don't want it to be, but I don't really have much say in the matter as it is."

"What happened, Mom?" she asked. "How did this even happen? You and Luke were so happy... I mean, did this happen before you broke up? Is Dad why you two broke up?"

"No," Lorelai said quickly. "Luke and I broke up first. Granted, only about an hour or so before it happened, but still, we were very decidedly broken up at the time. In my head, at least." She shrugged and smiled sadly at Rory. "Luke and I weren't happy at the end, not as much as I led everyone to believe," she explained. "And that night I gave him an ultimatum and he made his choice." She looked back out the window, recalling the fight in front of the diner with a grimace. "So then I made my choice, I went to see your Dad." She sighed, twisting her hands in her lap. "I'm not saying it was right or wrong, Rory, but I did what I did. I'm not perfect, you know that by now, and while yes, I regret what happened, and I wish it hadn't happened, I can't do anything to change it." Her hands settled on her stomach and she smiled slightly. "But yes, because of that night, there's a good chance this baby is your dad's."

Rory's hands instinctively went to her own stomach as she processed what her mother was telling her. It wasn't anything she hadn't already guessed, but it was still unsettling to hear the actual words. "I don't want to sound terrible Mom, but..." her voice trailed off reluctantly. "I really hope that it's Luke's."

Lorelai's eyes filled with tears as she reached over and hugged Rory. "For what's it worth, I really do too," she said, her voice thick. Rory just nodded against her, not knowing what else to say in that moment. She had meant what she had said though, she wanted nothing more than for her mother's baby to not be her own dad's. The thought unsettled her and she tried to shake the feeling off for the moment. There would be plenty of time to dissect that twisted logic later on.

"Have you told either of them?" She asked, pulling away and studying Lorelai's face. She shook her head as her mother avoided eye contact. "Mom! Don't you think you might want to? I mean, sooner or later, people are going to start to notice, and everyone is going to assume it's Luke's, and you know Patty and Babette are not going to be able to keep their mouths shut once they know anything about this! Then what, Mom? How could you do that to Luke?"

"I'll tell him before anyone finds out," Lorelai promised unconvincingly.

"You better hope so. Mom, Luke'll forgive a lot of things, but finding out from someone else you slept with Dad?" Rory shook her head. "I don't think he'll forgive that."

"He already knows," Lorelai said quietly. She looked down at her hands. "He already knows about Chris, he just doesn't know about the baby." She flinched, reliving that particular conversation held on her front porch.

"You have to tell him," Rory urged. "And the sooner the better."

"Stones and glass houses, little girl. I don't see you jumping at the chance to tell the Huntzberger's you're carrying on the family name at the moment."

"No, but at least when they find out, they'll know one hundred percent that it is Logan's child!" Rory slapped her hand over her mouth. "Mom, I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I didn't mean that."

Lorelai shook her head quickly. "Nothing I'm not already beating myself up over every time I think about it," she said, rising to her feet. "Excuse me." She bolted from the room, but not before Rory could see the tears in her eyes. Rory sat for a moment in stunned silence, berating herself for treating her mother like that before sighing and reaching for the phone next to the table. She tapped her foot anxiously against the floor, waiting for the other end to pick up.

"Frank, it's Rory," she said as soon as Logan's personal driver picked up the phone. "I'm sorry for the short notice, but is there any way you can come get me in Stars Hollow to bring me back home?" She nodded as he told her he was on his way. "Great thanks. No, I won't be at my mom's house." She gave him the directions to Lane's before thanking him again and putting the phone down. She glanced at the stairs nervously, opting not to let her mother know she was leaving lest she open her mouth and say something completely inappropriate again. Instead she scribbled a note, letting her know that she was going back home and that she would call her in the morning. Picking up the purse she had dropped by the front door, she left the house quickly and quietly.

* * *

Logan stared at the empty glass in front of him as he waited for the waitress to bring him another. She had quirked an eyebrow at him, wondering if maybe the four glasses of scotch hadn't been enough already. He had agreed with her, threw down a fifty dollar bill and told her to bring him whiskey instead. After the day he had had, he welcomed anything that took away the sting and numbed him completely.

When the doctor had come back into the examination room this morning and told him and Rory that yes, not only was she pregnant as they had expected, but four months and a few days along to boot, it had taken every ounce of energy he had not to freak out. Rory was doing enough of that for the both of them, and the last thing she needed to see was him falling apart as well. It was true, he argued with himself, that there wasn't that much of a difference in the three months along they thought she was to the actual four. A month meant nothing really, but it still had been a shock to say the least. It was one less month they had to prepare. One less month to put off the inevitable wedding their families would be planning the second his mother and her grandmother found out. One less month for him to get all of their affairs in order to make sure everything would be taken care of.

One less month for him to convince himself not to run.

The waitress set a fresh glass in front of him and he took it gratefully, bringing it to his lips and not stopping until it was empty. He never entertained the thought of running away for long, but he'd be lying if he said the idea didn't pop into his head every little while, especially when Rory's mood swings became a bit much to handle. They'd only known her to be pregnant for a couple of days, but in that short time, she had done plenty of freaking out, hysterical crying, and even the occasional screaming rant. The whole while he had remained calm, collected, and done everything he could to soothe her fears. What he failed to do was soothe his own.

He was kidding himself if he thought he could do this. He didn't know how the hell to be a father, let alone a decent one. Who were his role models? Mitchum? Elias? Neither had Father of the Year stashed away on their award shelves. He grimaced as the alcohol started to hit his system. No, his father and grandfather had groomed him in the ways of business dealings and in society, but never in the ways of being a family man. They had molded him into the man they wanted him to be, the man they both perhaps had wished themselves to be, and never once gave thought to what he might have wanted for himself.

Not that he wanted to be a father, he rationalized, immediately feeling guilty. He hated himself for thinking that, but in the deepest part of his mind, the thought was there. While he had never fully discounted the idea of having children, he certainly never dreamed it would be happening this fast, and if it were up to him, it wouldn't be happening at all.

Neither of them had any idea how to do this. How could they be parents when they were both completely clueless? Rory at least had the benefit of thinking that Logan was okay with everything, that he knew what he was doing, and that he was going to take care of everything. He on the other hand, knew better. He knew they were both scared to death.

He sighed, signaling for another drink. It wasn't just his personal life that was falling apart but his professional life as well. After dropping Rory off at Lorelai's he had barely made it to his meeting with minutes to spare. This of course had set Elias off on another tangent about him stepping up to his responsibilities. He had been forced to endure another lecture on how this wasn't playtime, this was real-life and that Elias had no idea why Mitchum had thought Logan would be ready for any of the responsibility he had given him. It had been all Logan could do to rail back at him that he didn't know why either and that he wished he hadn't. Instead, he found himself making the same promises to Elias that he had been making to Rory. Assuring him that everything would be fine, that he would take care of things, that nothing would fall apart. It was the only thing Rory and Elias would have in common; the fact that both were blissfully unaware that Logan didn't have a fucking clue what he was doing anymore.

That fact was what had led him to the bar after work tonight, instead of home. He knew once he got home, Rory would be waiting for him, hopefully calmer than when he had left her earlier but no less upset at their most recent news. And although he loved her more than he ever thought possible, he simply could not deal with her just yet. Not tonight. Tonight he wanted to be the one to wallow. Tomorrow he would go back to being the perfect boyfriend and father-to-be, but tonight, he needed to be selfish. If he didn't, he wasn't so sure he wouldn't run.

He pulled his cell phone out of his suit pocket and put in a call to Colin and Finn. While Rory's methods of wallowing included her mother, a candy shop and a handful of movies, his means were a bit simpler. When he had good friends and good alcohol, a man didn't need much more to start feeling better about himself.

And right now as he waited for the guys to show up, he really didn't feel so great.

* * *

Instead of going to Lane's as planned, Rory found herself standing in front of Luke's. She only hesitated for a moment before pushing the front door open and walking into the near empty diner. Luke's back was turned to her and he called out a gruff greeting, telling her to take a seat anywhere. She smiled and perched herself on one of the stools at the counter, waiting for him to turn around. "Hi," she said softly when it became clear he was going to finish cleaning out the coffee pot before turning around.

His back straightened at her voice and she braced herself, anticipating a less than thrilled response from her mother's ex-fiance. Her shoulders nearly sagged with relief when he turned around, an uncharacteristically wide grin spread across his features. Her heart warmed at the realization that he was happy to see her, and she realized just how much she had missed him in the last couple of months.

"Rory, hey!" He threw down the towel in his hand and stood in front of her, the counter between them. "I didn't realize you were in town today."

"It was an unexpected trip," she said wryly. "Slow day," she remarked, gesturing to the near-empty diner.

"Yeah, there's always a lull just before dinner." Their small talk was awkward; they both knew it. "So uh, I guess you know about your mom and me. I mean, of course you know..." his voice trailed off. "I'm sorry. I didn't handle things well with her."

Rory smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Luke."

He cleared his throat gruffly and gestured toward her. "So how're things?" he asked.

"You look well, how's your summer? How's Logan? Last I talked to your mom, she said he was on his way to London."

"I am well," she said with a nod. "Logan's good, he's actually back from London now. We're really good," she confirmed. "In fact..." she hesitated, debating on telling him her news. Outside of her mother, no one knew. She wasn't even sure if she was supposed to tell anyone. She looked up into Luke's face and made up her mind. "Actually, um... Logan and I are... well," she laughed slightly. "I'm pregnant," she admitted.

"What?" Luke was around the counter and standing in front of her in an instant.

"Rory, wow...I...that's.." his face darkened. "I feel like I should go hunt down that kid and smack him around. Can I?"

Rory laughed, comforted by his protectiveness. "Thanks, I bet Grandpa will have dibs on the first punch, but after that, you're more than welcome," she said. She smiled again. "We just found out, and actually, I'm still not really used to the idea," she confessed. "You're only the second person I've told, and it still seems weird saying it."

Luke nodded and sat down next to her. "How'd your mom take the news?" he asked knowingly.

"Oh, she wasn't all that surprised actually," Rory said. "Let's just say, I was in denial over things a lot longer than some of the people around me who knew better." She looked up at him. "But you probably don't want to know about that, huh?"

"Not really no." Luke's eyes narrowed. "If your whole reason for coming here was for coffee, think again. I think you know better than that. In fact, if I have to, I'll stop serving coffee in this place until you have that kid."

She laughed, wondering if he would in fact have to stop serving coffee once Lorelai's news spread around town. "Logan'll be happy to hear it. He's already threatening to smell my breath every time I walk through the door to make sure I'm not drinking it. I'm not," she quickly assured him as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Good. What about eating? Are you eating okay? Vegetables you know, you're going to have to start with them."

"I know," she said. Again, she was overcome by the warmth coming from Luke. "Trust me, since I've found out, I've been doing all the reading I can."

"Of course you have." Luke smiled again. "Rory, wow.... I just can't believe..." he sighed. "You're really not that little girl that used to come in here and correct the spelling on my menus anymore, are you?"

She shook her head, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes again. She was about to say something more when she spied Frank pulling the car up to the curb. She sighed, the moment broken. "That's my ride home," she said with a nod out the window. She turned to leave but Luke stopped her, catching hold of her elbow carefully. She turned back to him, a look of surprise on her face.

"Congratulations Rory," he said sincerely. "I know your mom's probably already got all this covered, but if you ever need anything..." his voice trailed off and he just squeezed her elbow reassuringly, trying to convey what he couldn't say.

She swallowed and nodded, this time not caring about the tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she said quietly. She paused at the door and turned back to face him. "Luke, I'm sorry... I wish...." This time, it was her voice that failed to say what she wanted. "I just wish," she said finally.

He nodded in understanding. "I do too." They held their gaze for a moment longer and she nodded again, slipping out the door.

"Miss Gilmore," Frank said with a tip of his hat, opening the door for her. "Can I take you any place in particular?"

"Hi Frank," she said, sliding into the back seat. The day's events all caught up to her at once and she immediately felt exhausted, wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed. "Please, just take me home."

She was asleep before Frank hit the highway, waking again only when he was gently shaking her awake to let her know that they had arrived. She smiled sleepily at him and thanked him, before making her way into the apartment building.

Rory opened the door to their loft, half expecting to see Logan waiting for her and was surprised to find he wasn't there. She looked at her watch, realizing it was already past dinnertime. It had become routing for them over the last few months, that if Logan was in town working, he would never work later than seven, and would always call her to let her know he was on his way home, and would be there before eight. It was almost nine. She checked her cell phone but there weren't any missed messages. She dialed half of Logan's number before stopping herself. She cleared the digits from the screen, opting to hastily send him a text message instead. She let him know she was home, she was okay, and that she was waiting for him. She stared at the message for a moment longer before adding I love you and then hit send. Then she sat down on the couch and grabbed one of her new books off of the coffee table. Curling her feet under her, she turned the pages until she found her current stage of pregnancy and began reading, committing every word to memory.

* * *

"So Mate, care to tell us yet why you've requested our company this fine evening?" Finn asked. He and Colin had shown up to the bar over an hour ago, both scratching their heads as to why they were being summoned on such short notice. Since canceling his move to London, they had rightfully expected him to spend the next few weeks holed up in his bedroom with Rory, something they both mocked him mercilessly over. A frown crossed over his face. "Don't tell me the lovely Rory finally dumped your sorry ass?"

Logan shook his head and set his drink down. "Rory's pregnant," he said evenly.

Finn just blinked at him.

"Is it yours?" Colin asked without missing a beat. Logan glared at him and he backed off. "Right, off course it is. Wow." He took a deep breath. "So you knocked her up, I..." his voice trailed off and he looked helplessly at Finn. "We've never had to have this conversation between any of us, what do we say?"

Finn shrugged. "Congratulations?" he asked, without a hint of sincerity in his voice.

Colin shook his head. "What are you guys going to do?" he asked, turning back to Logan.

"We're keeping it," he said, knowing that's what he meant. "It's too late to do anything else, not that we would have but she's... she's four months along already."

"So when's the wedding?" Finn deadpanned. Colin turned and glared at him. "Well what else am I supposed to say Colin?" He asked, throwing his hands up in the air. He shook his head sadly. "It's the end of an era, my friends. The legend that was Logan Huntzberger is no more. Come next year, we'll no longer be hearing tales of scandalous rendezvous with busty blondes. Instead, we'll be forced to endure endless baby babble and stories beginning with, 'you'll never guess what the baby did today'." Finn shuddered. "It's been nice knowing you Logan, I'll miss you Buddy." He raised his glass in a mock salute, nearly spilling it when Colin cuffed him upside the head. "The hell, Colin?"

Colin glared at him. "Go get us another round, will you? And stop being such an ass."

"Oh ho! Colin the ass calling me an ass? Now I know the world truly is ending." Finn ducked as Colin raised his hand in warning. "Okay okay, I'm off. I'll be back with a fresh round, God knows we all could use it after that bombshell."

"You don't look good," Colin noted, turning back to Logan after Finn had wandered off.

"I'm fucked," Logan said finally with a shake of his head. "Rory, she's freaking out every other minute and I'm trying to be the sane one because one of us has to be, but..." his voice trailed off as he drained his glass and slammed it back on the table, the ice clinking angrily against the rim. "I don't know what the hell we're going to do."

"The way I see it," Colin began slowly, "is that this might not be as bad as you're making it out to be." He waved off Logan's disbelieving look. "Let's look at the facts, okay? One, this isn't some random one night stand you knocked up, it's Rory. Your long-term girlfriend, the girl we all expect you to marry at some point. We do," he confirmed as Logan opened his mouth again. "Two, again, it's Rory. Sure, she's freaking out right now, but once she calms down, she's going to start those inane lists of hers and she's going to be more prepared for this than any other woman who's ever had a kid. She'll know more about the whole birth thing than her own doctors will." Logan conceded his point with a nod. "And third, Logan, out of the three of us, who do you think is going to be the better father?" He snorted. "It's not Finn, and we all know I have no interest in having kids."

"I don't know anything about being a dad," Logan protested.

"Maybe not, but you know what not to do," Colin pointed out. "You know enough to be the exact opposite of your dad and that's a hell of a start."

Logan mulled his words over for a moment. The man did have a point. He looked up. "We don't ever have to mention we had this talk again, do we?" he asked.

"I plan on forgetting it the second I take another drink." Colin swallowed his beer and looked around. "So how's the new office? Granddaddy letting up on you at all?"

"Can I come back now?" They were interrupted by Finn's mock whining before Logan could answer. He balanced a tray of bottles and shot-glasses on his hand and sat down at the table. "Okay boys, let's commence with cheering our mate Logan up here, shall we?" He picked up a glass and drained it. "To Daddy," he said, raising another glass.

Colin and Logan looked at each other for a moment before each shrugged and picked up their own glasses. Colin's words had eased his mind somewhat, but the idea of numbing every thought in his mind with booze was far more tempting than talking right now. He swallowed the bitter liquid in one swallow and reached for another.

It was near one-thirty when they had finally called it quits at the bar and Logan was on his way home. He hadn't checked his phone until the drive back to the loft and that was when he had gotten Rory's text from earlier in the evening. He unlocked the door quietly and braced himself for whatever scene might be awaiting him. Had he known Rory was waiting for him, he likely would have gone home to her earlier, but not getting the text until now, he had simply enjoyed his time out with his friends. It wasn't the first time he had come home drunk to Rory, nor was it the drunkest he had come home to her, but tonight he knew there was a chance this wasn't going to work well in his favor.

The apartment was dark as he let himself in, and he waited for his eyes to adjust before looking around for her. She was curled up on the couch, her cheek resting on the pages of a book and her cell phone laying next to her. He bent down next to her, brushing the bangs off of her forehead and shaking her arm softly. Her eyes fluttered a few times before opening fully and she looked at him sleepily. "Hi," she murmured.

"Hi," he whispered back. "Come on, let's get you to bed," he said, helping her to her feet. She was barely awake as they half-stumbled their way to the bed and only seemed to regain her senses as she watched him undress and crawl into bed himself. "Where were you?" she asked.

He cringed. "I met Colin and Finn for drinks," he admitted.

"Oh." She nodded and curled herself into his side. "Did you have fun?"

"I did," he said guardedly. He expected her to be upset with him, not ask if he had fun. Of course, he reminded himself, she was still half asleep and likely, the screaming would come along with the daylight. "I told them," he confessed.

"Mmm," she yawned. "I told Luke," she mumbled into his shoulder. "That's okay, right?" She was falling back asleep and he couldn't help but chuckle at her.

"Yeah," he said, kissing the top of her head. "That's okay." He reached over and turned the bedside lamp off. "Night Ace."

"G'night," she echoed. "Love you."

"Love you too," he returned. The alcohol having had its desired effect on him, he wanted nothing more than to close his eyes and fall into a peaceful slumber. He was sure there was going to be hell to pay in the morning, but for now, he was content to sleep.

Rory feigned sleep as she listened to her boyfriend's breathing even out as he drifted off. After not hearing from him for several hours after her text she had taken it upon herself to try and get ahold of his friends. Colin had been the one to text her back and assure her that Logan was okay, that he had had a bad day at work and was trying to blow off steam. He promised to have him home safely and early and asked her not to be too mad at him in the morning.

And she wasn't, not really anyways. They each had their way of dealing with things and she knew he wasn't about to change his ways anytime soon. She wasn't going to either. Sure, she wished he had called her himself, but she had a nagging suspicion that work hadn't been the only thing on Logan's mind that night and she didn't want to deny him the chance to cope with the same thing she had been trying to cope with herself. The fact that they were trying to cope separately and not together didn't go unnoticed by her, but she didn't want to think about that too much. Too many possibilities came with that fact and none of them were things she wanted to ever deal with. With a sigh she closed her eyes again and buried her face back into Logan's shoulder, smiling as his arm tightened around her. No matter what her fears were, and no matter how they coped separately, the fact of the matter was that at the end of the day, they were still together.


	9. Chapter 9

"Walking in on Paris and Doyle doing arts and crafts in the living room. Naked."

Rory made a face, remembering her own encounters with the two. "Being in another Debutante ball."

"Dancing naked with Finn." Logan sighed at the look Rory gave him. "_Again_," he clarified.

"Mmmhmm." Her eyes lit up. "Brazilian waxing with Shira," she said triumphantly.

Logan groaned and threw himself onto the couch next to Rory, pulling her feet into his lap. "Clearly, there are _many_ things we'd rather be doing than telling our families you're pregnant."

Rory nodded vigorously, setting her book down on the floor. "Why do most of the things you would rather be doing involved you being naked with other guys?"

"Focus!" Logan instructed, tickling the soles of her feet. "We've got much bigger issues at hand."

"Fine, but I still want to know."

He ignored her. "Okay, without time on our side like we thought, we kind of have to let our families know sooner than later."

"Especially since my mom, Luke, Colin, and Finn already know. This news is just a ticking time bomb," Rory agreed. "Someone's bound to slip up and mention something to someone." She paused. "I'm thinking that someone is named Finn, by the way."

Logan nodded. "Agreed. And I know for a fact he's planning on attending Honor's birthday party next weekend." He flipped open his calendar and began checking off dates. He smirked. "We could do Friday night dinner with your grandparents, tell them, and--"

"And have them call your mother to celebrate the good news before we get a chance to tell her?" Rory jabbed Logan in the chest with her toe. "Nice try, Huntzberger."

"It makes sense," Logan insisted. "And if your grandparents happen to tell Shira before we can, well..." He shrugged.

"No!"

"Well then why don't we just let Finn tell everyone at Honor's party?"

Rory's eyes lit up. "Maybe he and Colin could do a skit," she suggested brightly.

"_Ace_." He gave her a patient look.

She sighed. "We can't tell my grandparents first because Grandpa is out of town for the rest of the week. I say we suck it up and have dinner with your family, let Shira and Elias know, and _beg them _not to tell anyone before we can tell my grandparents."

Logan stared at her dubiously. "You think that's really going to work?"

"It's really our only option unless we take out an announcement in the paper and tell everyone that way." She smacked Logan in the chest when his eyes lit up. "Logan, no!"

"It's a really good idea though," he protested. "I mean, I don't know if you know this, but I am in charge of several large newspapers."

"And several not so large ones. Speaking of, what did you decide on the Maryland deal?" Rory had woken up that morning to Logan on a conference call from bed, finalizing his plans to sell one of the papers. From what she could hear, the call hadn't been going well, so she had decided to take Colin's advice from the night before, and didn't even bring up his night out at the bar. She got that he needed to blow off steam, she wasn't about to give him grief about it.

"They faxed the papers over this morning when you were in the shower and I signed them. It's a done deal. Everyone wins. Everyone seemed happy with the deal."

"And your grandfather?"

Logan shrugged. "He won't be thrilled, but he's not thrilled with any decision I make without him. But we're not talking about work right now. We're talking about how we're going to tell the family.

"Right." She switched her position on the couch so that she was sitting in his lap. "So it's decided, you'll call Shira and arrange dinner for as soon as possible?"

"Are you sure Finn can't tell them?"

"I'm sure," she said as she leaned in to kiss his mouth. "We have to tell them, Logan." She sighed. "At least when we tell my family, they'll be happy about it... I mean, they've practically already pictured what our children would look like, and they love you. Your family..." She bit her lower lip and looked away.

He laced his fingers through her hair and forced her to look at him again. "I could always tell them myself," he suggested. "I wouldn't mind. I mean, you're right, unfortunately, I don't see them seeing this as the best news ever, and while your grandparents may agree, they'll at least have the tact and decency to still be polite. Neither my mom nor my grandfather will hold back."

"Oh Logan, no." She smiled. "It's tempting, it's really tempting to let you do that, but it's just not an option. We're doing this, _all _of this, good and bad, together."

"Okay, but the offer is still on the table if you change your mind."

"I appreciate it." She reached over to the table and picked up his phone and handed it to him. "You should call them now."

He scrunched up his face. "Right now?"

"Any later than today and it'll be considered impolite and rude."

"But Shira's probably at a day spa in New York City and won't answer her phone."

"Call her," Rory instructed. She smirked at him. "Unless of course, you want to tell me about your fascination with naked men," she teased. She laughed as he pushed her off of him. Before she could stop him he had her pinned beneath him and was sliding his hands under her shirt to tickle her. "Logan, stop!" Her words came out as gasps through the laughter.

"Promise to drop it," he bargained, easing up slightly but not stopping.

"I don't think I can," she managed to get out. "I mean, when your boyfriend's got some weird fetish about naked guys it starts to make you wonder and..." she shrieked as he doubled his efforts.

"Stop!' she pleaded, halfway struggling against him.

"Can't," he said simply.

"You have to!" she said, trying to catch her breath. She tried to make her voice as serious as possible. "The baby doesn't like tickling."

It worked. His hands stilled instantly and he looked down at her. "That's not fair!" he protested. She laughed again, and he shook his head at her. "Not fair at all." He watched as she laughed at him and found himself staring at her. Her cheeks were flushed from laughing and her eyes were bright. She looked happier than he had seen her look in a long time and it had been almost as long since he had heard her laugh like that. It also didn't go unnoticed by him just how comfortably she had mentioned the baby. Before he could stop himself, he leaned down and kissed her.

She pulled away and smiled at him. "What was that for?"

"No matter what happens when we tell my parents, you know that I'm happy about all of this, right?" he asked.

"Logan, of course I know that." She ran her hand through his hair, leaving it tousled. "I'm happy too," she said truthfully. "But as happy as we are, the next few days are not going to be pretty. Telling the families..." she shuddered.

"At least we have a game plan," Logan agreed, though suddenly he wasn't feeling as confident as before. Reluctantly, he picked up his phone again and dialed through to his mother. He was surprised when she answered on the third ring and disentangled himself from Rory.

"Hi Mom? It's Logan. I was wondering if you had a night free this week?"

* * *

"Ring." Lorelai blinked her eyes hard and stared at the phone. "_Ring." _She waited. "Damn." Sighing, she tossed the cordless phone to the other side of the sofa and tried to focus on the television again. She had no idea what she was watching though as she had spent the last hour and a half trying to will Rory to call her.

It had only been three days since she and Rory had had their fight but she was going out of her mind not hearing from her. She had picked up the phone a few times but always put it back. Rory was the one who was angry, she would give her her space until she was ready to talk to her.

Of course if she could make her call through telepathy, that would totally be acceptable. Lorelai stared at the phone again. She nearly fell off of the sofa when it started ringing. She dove for it, nearly losing it among the pillows and cushions.

"Hello?" she asked anxiously when she finally got it in her hands.

"Lorelai, hi. Wow, for awhile there I didn't think you believed in answering in the phone anymore."

Lorelai cringed, wishing she had checked the caller id. "Hey Chris," she said finally.

"Hey back. I've been trying to get ahold of you, you know."

"I've been really busy," she said lamely. "But you've got me now, so what's up?"

"What's up is that I need your help. Gigi has a ballet recital coming up in a few weeks and I was hoping that you would be able to make her costume. I remember some of the pictures you'd sent me of Rory's costumes from different things, and Gigi is really excited about this and--"

"I can't," Lorelai said automatically.

"I... oh. What?" Chris was confused. "Are you sure? I've got everything needed for the costume but-"

"I said I can't." Her tone had a bit of an edge to it and she tried to soften it. "I'm sorry, I don't have the time. This is a really busy season at the inn and I barely have time to do my own laundry. There's no way I could find the time to make her costume."

She heard him sigh on the other end of the phone. "So I take it you're still mad at me. Don't you think this is a bit ridiculous, Lor?"

"Why wouldn't I be mad, Christopher?"

"Oh, I don't know....because you showed up at my house, remember? You came looking for me."

"To _talk. _I came to your house to talk. I was not there so that we could... so that..."

"Are you saying I took advantage of the situation? Of you? Be real, Lorelai, this isn't high school anymore. You know damn well why you came over that night."

"It never should have happened! I was a mess that night, I don't know what I was thinking but I know that I did not come over there so that we could have sex!"

"Well, we did. There isn't anything we can do to change that now. But you can't stay mad at me forever over this!"

"Try me." Before she could stop herself, Lorelai hung up on him. She stared at the phone. "Damn." She picked the phone up again and traced her fingers over the numbers. She needed to call him back. She had to tell him why she was so angry with him. She had to tell him about the baby.

She absolutely did not want to do any of those things.

Instead, she put the phone down on the table and went upstairs to change her clothes and put some make up on. She couldn't bring herself to tell Christopher anything just yet, but there was someone else she wanted to see.

A few minutes later Lorelai found herself standing outside of Luke's. Peering into the windows, she saw that the dinner rush had ended and that there was only one table occupied still. Luke was behind the counter making coffee. She hadn't really talked to him since he had stayed over at her house on the night of Mitchum's funeral and though she had seen him around town, she wasn't sure how he'd react to her standing in his diner. Hell, she wasn't sure how she'd react. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"What's a girl gotta do around here to get a piece of pie?" It wasn't the most original opening line, but she was relieved as Luke recognized her voice and turned around with a smile on his face.

"Lorelai, hey." He gestured for her to take a seat at the counter. "Key lime or cherry?"

"Cherry," she said without hesitation. She sat down and looked around. "Slow day I see."

"Yeah, gives me some time to catch up on some work around the place." He nodded at the toolbox that sat on the counter next to her. "Haven't seen you in awhile," he noted.

"I know, I wasn't sure if it was okay to come in here," she confessed. She looked up at him quickly.

"Is it okay that I'm in here?"

"Of course, sure, yeah." Luke's words were fast and jumbled. He set a plate in front of her and followed it with a cup of coffee. "So uh, Rory stopped by the other day," he said cautiously as he moved to take a few things from the toolbox.

"Oh yeah?" Lorelai's heart lurched at the mention of her daughter.

"Yeah. I gotta tell you, I was shocked as hell when told me about the baby."

Lorelai's head snapped up at the word. "You know?"

Luke nodded. "Rory told me." He shook his head. "I have to say, I was ready to pound the guy when I heard."

She swallowed hard. "Rory told you? She echoed dumbly. Her head was spinning and none of this made sense. "I um, Luke, I can explain… I don't know why she told you, but I know I should have and…"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, interrupting her. "There's nothing to explain Lorelai, believe it or not, I do know how these things happen. I'm just having a hard time believing it is all."

"Yeah," she said faintly. "You said you wanted to beat him up? You didn't, did you? Pound him, I mean." All she needed right now was to learn that Luke had told Christopher.

He shook his head, a slight grin on his face. "Nah, I wanted to, ya know? But she seemed pretty happy, and even if you don't like the guy that much, he does seem good for her." He shook his head again as he served her another piece of pie. "I just can't believe it. She's so young still…" he shrugged. "She's got a good role model though, she'll be a great mom."

All of the air rushed out of Lorelai's lungs at once. "Rory told you she was pregnant," she surmised weakly. Before she could stop herself, she began laughing. Of course he didn't know about her, he had served her coffee and she had just talked to Christopher on the phone. Part of her was relieved, but another part of her found herself wishing her own baby news was out in the open already. Her laughter quickly turned to tears and she inwardly cursed her hormones as she tried to calm down. Luke just stood there, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"Oh Luke, I'm sorry," she gasped, trying to catch her breath. She couldn't stop laughing or crying and the look on his face just made her laugh and cry even more.

"Are you okay?" he asked finally. Even for Lorelai, this was unusual behavior.

"No," she said, wiping at her eyes. "No, I'm not okay at all." She took a deep breath and finally raised her eyes to his. "We need to talk," she said firmly. "We really need to talk." Luke stared at her for a moment before nodding silently. He locked the door to the diner and motioned for her to follow him upstairs to his apartment.

* * *

"Do we really have to tell them?" Logan asked. They had been parked in his family's driveway for almost ten minutes now and neither was in any hurry to go inside.

Rory sighed and nodded her head. "We really do," she said. She paused and made a face. "As it is, I'm going to really start showing sooner before later and then everyone will know." She looked down at his hands and saw his knuckles were white from his grip on the steering wheel. "Logan, let go," she said, placing her hand over one of his. "Let's just go inside and get through dinner so we can go home and not have to worry about this anymore."

"We should have just let Finn tell them," Logan grumbled as he got out of the car and walked around to her side.

Shira watched from an upstairs window as her son and his girlfriend sat in his car for what seemed like forever until they finally emerged. Her suspicions had been raised from the moment Logan had called her and asked if they could come for dinner. She wasn't a fool, she knew what this meant. Logan was coming to tell her he was marrying that girl and would ask for his grandmother's ring.

Over her dead body. Shira extended her hand out and admired the sparkling gem that sat on her finger. There was no way this ring was leaving her possession, especially if it meant it would be sitting on her hand. She didn't care what she had to do but her son was not going to marry Rory Gilmore.

She idly blew smoke circles out the window as they stopped on the front walk for another conversation. She rolled her eyes and grew impatient at their obvious reluctance to come inside. It had been their idea to come to dinner after all. Shira's face twisted into a scowl as Logan leaned in to kiss Rory. She stubbed out the cigarette she was holding in her hand and prepared herself to go downstairs to greet them. She was about to turn away from the window when something caught her eye, causing her to move closer to the glass.

Logan had both of his hands placed over Rory's lower stomach and they were both looking down at them. He said something that caused them both to laugh as Rory put both of her hands over his.

Shira's eyes narrowed as realization swept through her veins and the true reason for their impromptu family dinner became all too clear.

"Wait!" It was Rory's turn to stop them on the walkway, turning to face Logan. "Are you sure you can't tell by looking at me?" She pulled nervously at her dress, suddenly feeling like it was four sizes too small.

"I'm not going to lie Ace," Logan said as he settled his hands over the slight curve of her stomach. The beginning of a bump was there, more noticeable than he would ever let on, especially to her. "In the last four months, these" he nodded at her breasts, taking a moment to enjoy the way they practically spilled out of the top of her dress, "have practically tripled in size," he said seriously. "I'm not saying its a bad thing at all, but..."

"Logan!" She laughed in spite of herself, shaking her head at the look on his face. She placed her hands over his. "Be serious!"

"I am," he insisted. He leaned down to kiss her. "You do not look fat Rory," he said sincerely. "And if Grandfather notices those" he winked again. "Then I think we have a bigger issue at hand to deal with." He laughed at the horrified look on her face and pressed the doorbell. "Let the fun begin." Their smiles faded quickly with the chimes.

Shira floated down the stairs as they were handing their coats off to the maid. "Logan!" she exclaimed as she approached the couple.

"Hi Mom," he said as he kissed her cheek. "Sorry we're late, how are you?"

"Oh you know me," she trilled, waving her hand in the air. She smiled politely at Rory. "Rory dear, you look lovely as always," she said as she motioned them toward the living room.

She did look lovely, Shira realized as Logan began filling her in on his most recent phone call with Honor. Discretely, she studied the younger girl. Her dress was a pale blue. Rory was always in blue it seemed, though Shira supposed if she had eyes that color, she'd wear blue all the time as well. The girl was positively radiant, from her glowing cheeks to her sparkling eyes. Her eyes drifted lower, taking note that the dress, while obviously designed to be figure-hugging, very much clung to curves Shira had never noticed before. Rory was absolutely pregnant. Shira felt ill.

"Mom?" She snapped out of her thoughts and focused on Logan. "Are you okay?"

"Yes dear, I'm fine," she said absently. "Your grandfather should be home soon, we shouldn't have to wait much longer for dinner." Her eyes flitted to Rory. "I'm sure the two of you are famished."

Before any more could be said, the front door slammed open and Elias' voice echoed through the front of the house, yelling for Logan.

"Logan!" his voice intensified as he found the three of them in the living room. "Do you care to tell me just what the hell you were thinking?

"Hello Grandpa, it's nice to see you too."

"Cut the crap Logan, tell me you did not just close the Maryland deal."

"I did," Logan said easily. He was grateful as Rory slipped her hand into his and squeezed gently.

"Have you lost your mind? Why would you do something like that without consulting me?"

"The process was already in motion when I took over,"Logan protested. "Everything was already in place, all I needed to do was sign the paperwork."

"My office, now. Maybe we can save this from being a complete disaster." He turned on his heel and walked out of the room.

"Go on," Rory mouthed, smiling sympathetically as Logan set his drink down and followed Elias out, leaving Rory and Shira alone.

"There's quite a bit of tension between them still," Shira noted. "I was hoping it would calm down once Logan went to London but," she sighed. "Well, you know."

"Yes," Rory said evenly. "Though I would imagine it difficult to undo twenty years of resentment over the course of one summer."

"Hmm." Shira finished her drink and stood up. "Can I get you another drink while I'm up?" she asked sweetly. "I didn't catch what Logan gave you, was it gin?"

"Just water, thank you."

"Here you go," Shira sat back down after handing her a new glass. "You know, I haven't seen much of Logan since the funeral, I was rather surprised when he called about dinner tonight. Of course I'm happy to have him here, but it just seemed so out of nowhere." She leaned forward slightly. "Almost as though he had a specific reason for wanting to come tonight."

Rory studied the ice in her glass. Shira knew. She could read it on her face and in the way she looked at her. She looked up and smiled back at her, just as sweetly. "Maybe Logan just wanted to see you," she replied finally. "As you said, it has been awhile, and I know he was happy to catch you on a day when you weren't at the spa. If you ask me, this dinner is long overdue."

Shira sat up a little straighter. "Well, I'm just saying, he never cared much about seeing the family before so it's natural that I would assume something else is going on." She eyed her pointedly, her eyes flickering down to Rory's stomach. "Is there?"

Rory just smiled. "You'll have to ask Logan about that," was all she said. No way in hell was she going to be the one to tell Shira anything. She was satisfied as Shira sat back in her own chair and fixed her gaze on the closed door off the hallway, waiting for Elias and Logan to come back out.

"Can you make me understand why you would ever consider signing that paperwork without properly researching all of the details?" Elias fumed. "It's past seven, you better hope I can get Harris on the phone and see if we can stop this before it goes too far."

"No," Logan insisted. "I did the research, I made the phone calls, I sent three of my best people out there for the last three days to make sure everything and everyone was on the same page."

Elias shook his head. "You should have--"

"Should have what?" Logan challenged. "Checked with you first? Asked your permission? Last time I checked, it was my name that was signing the paychecks, not yours."

"You're just like him, you know. Always making foolish and stupid decisions without thinking them all the way through. You don't have a clue as to what you're doing ."

"Actually, I do." Logan closed his eyes for a minute before he began to explain all of the details of the deal to Elias, cluing him into exactly how much they stood to profit from the deal.

When he was done, Elias stared at him for a moment. "Well why the hell didn't you just say that in the first place?"

"Because I didn't have to." Logan sighed. "Look, can we go back out there?" He opened the door. "Rory and I came here for a reason tonight, and I doubt she's very thrilled to be out there with mom alone."

"Christ, what next? Don't tell me you knocked the girl up."

Logan slammed the door shut and turned to face him again. The look on his face was enough for Elias.

"Damnit Logan, what did you go and get yourself into? She did this on purpose you know. Open your eyes, she's doing everything she can to trap you! First, she got you to leave London before you're time and now this? Oh don't you look at me like that, you don't believe me? That girl is pulling the same stunt on you that Shira pulled on Mitchum. And look how well that turned out."

"Enough," Logan snapped. "You can say what you want about me, or my mother, or even dad if you want, but you will not talk about Rory like that."

Elias shook his head and went over to the desk. "I had hopes for you, Logan, that's why I'm so hard on you. I thought you were going to be smarter than your father was." He opened a drawer. "How much?"

"How much what?"

"How much will it cost me to make sure you don't ruin your life by being saddled with a wife and child?" He pulled out his checkbook and began writing.

Logan stared at him incredulously. "You're not serious."

"I am" Elias looked up. "I will of course cover any medical expenses incurred, and whatever it is you think Rory will want for the trouble."

"The trouble..." Logan advanced on Elias. "Are you trying to tell me that you want to pay Rory off to get rid of our child?"

"Fifty thousand should cover it."

"That's never going to happen!" Logan exploded. "For one, I would never allow it, let alone consider it, and neither would she! As it is, Rory's already four months along." He shook his head. "I don't know why I'm surprised at this. We're through here." He threw open the door and stormed back into the living room.

Rory stood up. "Is everything okay?"

"We're leaving," he said shortly. He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door.

"But Logan, what about dinner?" Shira protested as she followed them to the foyer. He slammed the front door in response and she turned her gaze to Elias. "She's pregnant, isn't she?"

Elias nodded as he poured himself a drink. "Get Richard and Emily on the phone."

"What happened in there?" Rory asked quietly a few minutes after they had left the house.

Logan shook his head. "We were fighting over work and things got heated and..." he sighed. "I told him about the baby," he admitted.

"Oh." She was silent for a moment. "Didn't go so well?" she tried to keep her voice light.

"Not at all," he said tightly. He looked at her sideways, instantly making the decision to not tell her about Elias's offer. "I'm sorry, I know we had a plan but..." his voice trailed off. "It's better I told him alone though. Of course, he's probably telling mom now."

Rory laughed. "I'm pretty sure she already figured it out on her own," she confessed. Her head snapped up and she grabbed Logan's arm, causing the car to swerve slightly.

"Hey, careful!"

"Logan, if they know, and they're not happy they're probably already on the phone with my grandpa!"

"You said he was out of town this week on business, so we have at least until tomorrow," Logan pointed out.

"I might have lied when I said that so that we would tell your mom first," Rory said in a rush. She shrugged when Logan turned to look at her. "We can argue about it later if you want but now is so not the time."

"I probably would have done the same thing if I had thought of it before you," Logan admitted. "So okay, your grandparents are both in town, and you're probably right about my grandfather being on the phone with them right now." He sighed and stopped at a red light. "So, we need a new plan huh?"

Rory shook her head. "We're past needing a plan. We need to bring out the big guns." She hesitated. "We need my mom."

* * *

"Here, drink this." Luke handed Lorelai a glass of water and watched as she gripped the glass in her hands. They were shaking so hard that he finally took the glass away from her and motioned for her to sit down. "Lorelai, what's going on?" he asked finally. "Is this about Rory? Hey, I know she's young but she's a smart girl. Sure, the situation isn't ideal and I know it's not what you hoped for her, but she's going to be okay, she really is."

"No." Lorelai sniffed and nodded her head. "I know she'll be fine. She's already handling things much better than I am. Than I did," she corrected quickly. She nodded again, more emphatically. "Rory will be more than fine." She sighed and looked back down at her hands. "It's me... I'm the one that's a mess."

He sat down next to her. "It's a lot to take in, I can only imagine, but there's no need for all of this." He waved his hand between them.

"No, there is. There is!" Lorelai insisted. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. This was her chance. She needed to tell him, and there wasn't going to be any better time. "Luke, things are... things are very weird right now, and I have to tell you about it. I need to. You need to know, you needed to know awhile ago, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell you. Until now."

Luke exhaled slowly. "Okay." He paused.

"You know that I'm so sorry about what happened between me and Christopher. I'm so sorry," she repeated. "But there's more to the story. More that you need to know, Luke."

He stood up and walked into the kitchen. "I already know everything I need to know about that," he said shortly.

"No Luke, you don't."

"I do," he insisted. He turned back around to face her. "I know that we got into a fight and for whatever reason, you decided to sleep with that guy. I know that I came to see you the next morning and when I told you I wanted to marry you, you told me it was too late. You had already moved on. That was it, Lorelai. I don't need to know anymore. I swear, if you're here to tell me that the two of you are finally gonna get together and you want some sort of absolution from me, you're going to be surprised at what you get instead."

"Luke no!" Lorelai shot up from the couch. "That's not what I'm trying to tell you, that's not it at all! Damn it, Luke, I'm here because--" she was interrupted by her cellphone going off in her purse. She sighed heavily. "That's Rory," she said at the ring tone. "I have to get it." Luke only waved his hand at her and stalked a few more steps into the kitchen.

"Rory?" she said as soon as she managed to get the phone open and to her ear. "Okay slow down, I can't understand you. What? Dinner with Logan's family? Sorry I missed tha-What? Right, no, you're absolutely right about that, I'm betting they're getting an earful right now. I'm not being glib, I'm just saying! Okay, okay, you're right. No, I agree, you definitely can't go back to New Haven for the night, in case they ambush you. Okay, I'll meet you there, and we'll come up with a new game plan, okay? Okay. See you soon." She put the phone down and looked at Luke apologetically.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Rory and Logan told his family about the baby tonight. Needless to say, it didn't go well and it's only a matter of time before my parents find out." She sighed. "I have to go, they're on her way to the house, and..."

"No, go. It's okay." His eyes leveled with hers. "We've pretty much said everything we needed to say here."

"No, we haven't," she said honestly. "But I really have to go. I... I'll talk to you soon, Luke. Bye."

She was halfway out the door before she turned back to face him. "Thanks for the pie," she added with a hasty smile before disappearing down the stairs.

Outside the diner she leaned against the siding and took a few deep breaths. She was still shaking. She had been so close. Shaking her head, she pushed herself away from the building and headed towards the house. Rory's phone call couldn't have come at a more pivotal point and if anything, she was going to take it as a sign that she wasn't ready to tell either man in her life her news just yet.

She had a pretty good idea of how Christopher would react, but she realized now, as she crossed the darkened street that she really had no clue how Luke would react.

By the time she walked through the front door, she had talked herself out of telling either one of them until she knew for sure. It would be easier that way, there would be less drama.

Less drama. She couldn't help but laugh as she went into the kitchen and began pulling out any and all junk food she could find. Her current situation, coupled with Rory and Logan's current crisis was going to need all the reinforcements they could get, starting with the proper snacks for game planning. And that was only the beginning. She hoped, for their sake, that Richard and Emily were away from the house tonight and therefore wouldn't get the Huntzberger's phone call until the morning. They needed all of the time they could get to prepare for _that_ confrontation.

She was finishing putting the snacks out in the living room when she heard the slam of a car door. She pressed a hand to her midsection as she watched Logan and Rory walking up to the house.

Less drama. She hated to say it, but she anticipated there would be way more drama in all of their lives before there was any less.


	10. Chapter 10

"Okay so let me get this straight." Lorelai tried unsuccessfully to keep the amusement out of her voice. "You dropped the baby bomb on Logan's family under the assumption of your grandparents being out of town and then just left? Leaving them completely free to share this news all on their own?"

Rory glared at her mother. "Did I miss you telling Grandpa about your own blessed event?" she asked with her hands on her hips.

Lorelai backed down quickly. Clearly Rory was still upset with her. She held out a bowl of Goldfish crackers as a peace offering and grinned satisfactorily when Rory grudgingly took the bowl and sat down on the couch next to her. They snacked in comfortable silence for several seconds as Logan stared at them in disbelief.

"What are you doing?" he asked finally. "Is this your big plan? To sit here and eat?"

Lorelai threw a licorice whip at him. "Got a better plan, Richie Rich?"

"The baby is kind of hungry," Rory admitted sheepishly. "Oh don't give me that look Logan! You're the one who dragged us out of there before dinner was served!"

"Look, this is what's going to happen," Lorelai interrupted, shoving a bowl of pretzels at Logan. "There is no time for a plan, it's all about going on the defensive now. Or is it the offensive?" She shook her head and turned to Rory. "I shouldn't ever use sports references, they mean so little to me." Again, Logan looked on incredulously as the two women discussed which term she had meant to use.

"Girls!"

Lorelai looked up. "Oh right. Anyways, my point is, there is nothing we can do. Trust me, my parents already know and probably are on their way here this very second to no doubt confront me over my failure at raising a proper young lady." She glanced sideways at Rory. "No offense."

"None taken," she answered with a wave of her hand.

"Good. Anyway yeah, my parents already know your exciting news and in fact..." her voice trailed off as they heard a car pulling into the driveway.

"How did you know that?" Rory asked, her head tilting sideways.

Lorelai shrugged. "I have that whole pregnant psychic thing going on. That, and my cell phone has been going off constantly for the last half hour." She got up and opened the front door. "Mom! What a pleasant surprise it is to see you tonight," she said with fake cheerfulness as Emily stormed into the living room.

"Well just look at you!" she said indignantly, placing her hands on her hips. "The Huntzbergers were right! You're pregnant."

"Hey!" Rory elbowed Logan. "You said I didn't look pregnant," she hissed.

"Aw, he told you that?" Lorelai cut in. She turned to Logan. "That was very sweet of you, good job!" she praised.

"Wait! Can you tell I'm pregnant?" Rory demanded. "Am I fat?"

"No sweetie, of course not, but you are a little rounder than before," Lorelai said soothingly. "But it looks good on you," she added quickly.

"Oh for Godssakes, hello!" Emily snapped. "Can someone please explain to me what is going on here?

"Sounds to me like you already know," Lorelai pointed out logically.

"Lorelai, enough already." Emily moved further into the room. "I want to know why I come home from a perfectly pleasant dinner out with friends to an answering machine full of messages from Shira Huntzberger! Would you like to know what those messages said?" Her voice was becoming more shrill with each word. Nobody answered her. "I will tell you what they said, they said that my granddaughter is pregnant! Pregnant, and as far as I can tell, no ring on her finger." She shook her head exasperatedly. "You are lucky your grandfather is out of town, I don't know that his heart could have taken this! Finding out you're pregnant on an answering machine message? Honestly!" Emily stamped her foot. "How could you tell that woman fist? You can't even have the decency to tell me yourself?"

"We're sorry Emily." Logan finally spoke up. "Of course we planned to tell you. Friday night at dinner in fact. We decided to tell my family first because we weren't sure of how they would react and well," he shrugged. "They didn't take it very well at all, obviously. We had to make a quick exit, there wasn't any time for us to ask them not to say anything." He smiled at her then, turning on the charm. "We really are very sorry Emily, we wish we could have been the ones to tell you but now? I'm just happy that you know and can celebrate with us."

"He's good," Lorelai mouthed to Rory, who could only node her head in agreement.

"Well," Emily huffed. Her icy expression softened as her gaze fell on Rory. "Oh, another baby," she sighed finally, clasping her hands. "How far along are you?" she asked.

"A little over sixteen weeks," Rory confessed, immediately moving her hand to rest on her stomach.

"Sixteen we--" Emily sighed again. "Just how long did you plan on keeping this from everyone?"

"We only just found out ourselves." Rory went on to explain. "We really were going to tell you on Friday night."

Emily pursed her lips. "And you're okay? I take it you've seen a doctor?"

"Oh yes, Dr. Meadows," she smiled as Emily brightened at the name. "Everything is going very well." She hesitated. "Grandma, I really would like to be the one to tell Grandpa. Friday night, like we planned. Or sooner, if you think best."

"He won't be home until Friday afternoon and if you can be sure to keep Elias and Shira away from him, I will expect the three of you to dinner Friday night," Emily agreed.

"Wait, why me?" Lorelai asked.

Emily fixed a glare toward her daughter. "If I recall, you also have some news to share with your father," she reminded her.

"Yes, because telling Dad that both of us are pregnant at the same time is a really great idea," Lorelai said sarcastically. "Why don't we tell him you're pregnant too, Mom? Really give his heart a workout."

"Fine. Maybe you should want to be there to lend your support to your own daughter then," Emily amended. "In any case, I don't care what reason you use, I expect all three of you there in time for dinner."

"We'll be there," Logan promised. "Now Emily, I'm sure you have a ton of question and you will get answers to all of them, but it's been a really long day for Rory and I really would like to get her home and into bed before she falls asleep on her feet."

"Oh yes, of course, rest is important," Emily stammered. "Yes, I should be going myself. I was just in such a state of... yes, we'll see you for dinner on Friday." She gathered her purse and her car keys from where she had dropped them, and with a nod at the other three, she left just as quickly as she had arrived.

Rory and Logan said their goodnights and left the house. Out on the porch, Rory let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and collapsed against Logan. "So much for the game plan, huh?" she asked tiredly. They were both too drained to say anything more about it so he merely dropped a kiss on the top of her head and led her to the car.

Laying in bed later that night, Logan couldn't contain himself anymore, the sound rumbling deep in his chest as his body shook with laughter. "Did that really just happen?" he asked incredulously. "Seriously, that whole night, did that really happen?"

Rory turned over in bed and looked at him. Watching him laugh, she was unable to stop herself from giggling along with him.

"We had a plan!" he gasped. "What happened to the game plan?" They laughed a little while longer before he pulled her closer to him and settled his hand over her stomach.

"We should have just let Finn and Colin do a skit," she murmured into his chest. She looked up at him and smiled. "There's still time, we still have to tell my grandpa."

"Somehow I still don't think Colin and Finn are the way to go," he said. Relenting, she nodded and stifled a yawn. "At any rate, we've got a couple of days to come up with a new game plan, right?"

"I'm thinking our game planning strategy days are over, Ace," he said with mock regret. "How about we just sleep on it, and enjoy the next couple of days until we have to tell Richard?"

"Deal."

Logan was just on the brink of falling into a deep sleep when suddenly he was whacked over the head with a pillow. He shot up in bed and looked down at Rory. "Ace? What the hell?"

She smiled sweetly up at him. "That was for lying to me about me not looking pregnant," she said before turning on her side and closing her eyes again.

Logan sighed and lay back down. For the first time since he found out Rory was pregnant, he began counting down the days until her mood swings would stop.

* * *

"Lorelai!" Emily smiled as her daughter walked into the living room Friday evening. "You're late," she pronounced.

"Hi Mom, it's lovely to see you too." She handed her coat to the maid, and took her seat across from Rory and Logan. "Hey guys, how are you?" She raised her eyebrows, questioning if they had broken the news yet and was greeted with very emphatic shakes of the head in the negative. "So, what's going on? Dad, how are you?"

"I'm just fine Lorelai, just fine," Richard said with an agreeable nod. "Happy to be back in Connecticut, that's for certain. You know, I think Dayton, Ohio exists purely to make business travel absolutely wretched."

"I believe that is their town motto," Lorelai quipped just as the maid came back in and announced that dinner was ready.

Despite her joking, Lorelai sensed a tension in the room and glanced worriedly at Rory as they walked into the dining room. "Relax," she whispered, holding her daughter back slightly from the group. "It's going to be okay, I promise."

"We'll see," Rory muttered, pressing a hand to her stomach. Almost seventeen weeks into her pregnancy and she was still dealing with what she laughing referred to as morning sickness, since it seemed to occur pretty much any time of the day.

With Logan's help, Emily was able to keep the small talk going smoothly as everyone sat down for the salad course. Rory was only able to offer up a snippet of conversation every now and then for fear of opening her mouth as her head began to spin.

"You okay?" Logan whispered to her as Richard and Lorelai were engaged in Inn talk and Emily was checking on the main course. "You're getting whiter by the minute."

"I'll be fine," she muttered, even as the words passed through her lips she knew that she was lying. She reached for her water glass desperately, and for a moment she thought that she might be okay after all.

"Braised lamb!" Emily announced cheerfully as she followed the maid back into the dining room. Rory took one look at the platter of meat before and nearly knocked over her chair in her hurry to leave the room.

Logan and Lorelai exchanged looks while Emily frowned. "I'll go after her," Logan said, rising from his own chair and excusing himself.

"Has Rory been ill?" Richard asked, turning to Lorelai.

"Not that I know of," she replied, avoiding Emily's stare.

"There's no sense in speculating about the girl," Emily interrupted as she handed a knife to Richard so that he could begin serving. "Let's just continue on with dinner, I'm sure she's fine and she and Logan will be back any second."

Sure enough, several minutes later Rory and Logan both reappeared. Rory gave her mother a slight nod and smiled apologetically at her grandparents as Logan pulled her chair out for her.

"Rory, are you feeling well?" Richard asked. "You grew quite pale there for a moment."

"I'm fine Grandpa," she said as she took a sip of water. She took a deep breath and dropped her hand down into Logan's. She couldn't hold off any longer. "Actually Grandpa, Logan and I have some news."

"News? What news?" He set his wine glass down and looked at them expectantly.

She sighed. "Grandpa, Logan and I just found out that I am pregnant." She forced a smile onto her face as Logan squeezed her hand gently underneath the table. "We're going to have a baby."

The room was silent for an impossibly long time. Emily's eyes darted around the table from her daughter to her granddaughter to her husband. She studied him carefully, and from the look on his face, she momentarily feared for his health. "Richard..."

He held up his hand. "Not now Emily, I want to hear what Logan has to say."

Logan winced as Rory's nails broke through the skin of his wrist. "Yes sir," he said quickly as he removed her hand, settling it palm down in his lap.

"You and my granddaughter are having a child," he stated.

"We are," he confirmed. Rory kept her eyes downcast.

"And what preparations have you made for this child?"

"To be honest Richard, we've only known for a little while. As soon as we found out, I canceled my move to London and began work out of the Hartford offices."

Richard nodded. "Very commendable," he remarked. He took a deep breath. "And when will the wedding be?"

"There is no wedding Grandpa," Rory interrupted. "Not yet," she amended with a sideways glance at Logan.

"But soon," Richard pressed.

Rory's eyes leveled with his. "I won't lie to you Grandpa," she said softly. "There hasn't been any talk of a wedding. That's not to say it's not a possibility at some point in the future, but right now? I'm sorry, it's not something we're planning yet."

For an instant, Lorelai found herself transported back in time to when she herself had told Richard of her own pregnancy, and she knew that if he unleashed the same words on Rory as he did her, neither of them would be able to handle it. Whether she was still angry with her or not, Lorelai wasn't about to let her daughter be hurt.

"I'm pregnant too!" she blurted out.

"Lorelai!" Emily gasped as Rory dropped her head into her hand.

"Well I am!" she insisted. "And it's time Dad knew. I'm going to start showing any day now, it's not like I could keep hiding this."

Richard stared at his daughter for a long moment. Instantly, she could tell that her plan had worked, and his anger toward Rory was temporarily on hold. She flashed a small reassuring smile in Rory's direction and braced herself for her father's tirade.

"You're pregnant," he said, his voice laced heavily with disappointment. "Could I dare dream that you're actually going to step up responsibly here and show your daughter what _should_ be done in this situation? Is it safe for me to assume that _your _wedding is now back on?"

Lorelai stared hard at her father. "No," she said flatly. "The wedding is still off. Luke and I are not getting married."

Disappointment was quickly replaced by anger. "You're not a child anymore Lorelai, there's no reason for us to go through this again. We will not go through this again! Give me one good reason why you're not planning on going through with marrying Luke now."

"You want a reason Dad?" Under the table, Rory gripped Logan's hand even tighter, chanting a silent no, no, no! in her head. "How about this Dad, it might not even be Luke's child. Is that a good enough reason for you?" Rory put her head in her one free hand again. Had her mother gone mad?

"Lorelai!" Emily gasped again.

Richard's face turned a deeper shade of red than Rory had ever seen. "Who?" he asked in a tone she had never heard before.

For a split second Lorelai faltered under his glare. Perhaps this hadn't been her greatest idea ever. It was like being sixteen all over again. "Christopher," she admitted in a voice barely over a whisper.

"Oh for heaven's sake Lorelai!" Emily snapped. "Christopher? Have you lost your mind?" She stood up. "I can't deal with this. Not again."

"Emily stay," Richard commanded. He waited until she sat back down. "Your mother's right, we won't be going through this again. We barely survived it the first time."

Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "What are you going to do?" she challenged. "I'm not sixteen this time. I'm an adult."

"Exactly, you are," Richard agreed. "That's the very reason you're going to do the _adult_ thing here. You're going to find out who the father of this child is and you're going to marry him."

Lorelai blinked furiously. "You can't make these kinds of decrees Dad," she snapped. "They didn't work when I was sixteen, they sure as hell aren't going to work when I'm thirty-eight."

"You said so yourself Lorelai. You're not sixteen anymore, You're old enough to realize the repercussions of your actions." Richard paused. "Now clearly you're still foolish enough to make these same mistakes _again_." Rory winced at his words. "But I hope you've garnered enough knowledge to understand what you need to do."

"What I understand is that it's time for me to leave," Lorelai said angrily, standing up so violently that she nearly upturned the table in the process.

"No Lorelai, sit please," Emily pleaded. "I won't have you driving so upset."

"Then I'll call a driver," she said through gritted teeth. She nodded at Logan. "You've got a spare, don't you?"

"Uh sure," he said hesitantly, unsure of what else to do.

"Great, call him and have him meet me outside. I can't be here any longer. I knew you'd be upset," she said, turning back to Richard. "But I never expected to find myself back in 1983." She whirled to face Rory for the first time since dinner started. "Did you get an earful Kid? Did you take notes?" she asked. "I sure as hell hope so, because soon enough, this-" she waved her hand around. "Is all going to be directed at you and I bet you anything that once the Huntzbergers' shock has warn off, their reactions are going to make the Gilmores' look like a fricken' tea party." Her eyes widened as the words flew out her mouth, realizing what she had done. Inadvertently, she had brought the attention back around to Rory and Logan.

"Lorelai, you're not hearing me. You _will _marry the father of your child. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it's high time you show your daughter the right way to handle a situation like this."

"Grandpa, it doesn't matter if mom gets married or not," Rory interrupted. "Logan and I will not base our decision on getting married on what my mother does."

"Seems to me you've imitated your mother just fine up until now," he remarked bitterly.

"Richard!"

Richard slammed his fist down on the table hard enough to send the plates and glasses rattling, effectively silencing Emily. "No, this needs to be said. All these years I've bit my tongue when it came to Rory and her foolish adoration of her mother. And you!" He turned to Lorelai. "You and your distorted views of your so-called independence. This is where I draw the line. I refuse to allow the both of you to disgrace this family's name again!"

"Dad!" Lorelai's voice was sharp.

"No Lorelai, I mean what I say. Its clear I've stayed quiet too long as it is. For years, your mother and I have supported you, both publicly and privately, in the way you claim to have raised Rory to be a brilliant and outstanding young adult when the truth is all you have done is brought her up to be another version of you!" All three Gilmore women recoiled at his words but he continued on. "Now it's obvious you couldn't learn from your own mistakes but good Lord Lorelai, I had hoped you would have at least taught her to do better than you." With that, he got up from the table and walked away, leaving them all stunned.

Logan started to get to his feet but Rory stopped him. "Don't," she whispered. She looked around at her mother and grandmother and saw the same look on their faces she imagined to be on hers.

"He has no right," Logan began angrily, but Rory stopped him again.

"He's upset," Rory said quietly.

Emily sighed. "Maybe I should have told him on my own," she said regretfully.

"He would have been angry either way," Rory said resignedly.

"Well, I suppose dinner is over." Emily sighed. "I should check on Richard," she said as she stood up. Her eyes settled on Lorelai. "Can you stay a few minutes?" It wasn't a request and Lorelai nodded mutely.

"We'll see ourselves out," Logan said as he placed a steadying hand on Rory's back.

She smiled at him gratefully and leaned into his touch, not realizing until then how unsteady she felt.

Emily nodded. She came around the table and stood in front of Rory. "He's upset," she said carefully. "And anything he said tonight he said out of anger. I'm afraid he's going to feel mighty ashamed when he realizes the extent of his words tonight." She smiled fleetingly at her granddaughter and touched the side of her face as she looked over at Logan. "You'll take care of her?"

Logan reached over to kiss the elder Gilmore's cheek. "I will," he promised. "Goodnight Emily." He nodded at Lorelai as they walked out. Rory barely acknowledged her.

She stayed silent until the were to the car and Logan was about to open her door for her. "Wait," she said, placing her hand on his arm.

"You want to wait and talk to Lorelai?" he asked knowingly. Sure enough, she nodded at him. It was a warm night so he nodded back and shut the door again. "Okay, we'll wait." They both leaned against the side of the car and she laid her head on his shoulder.

Emily watched as Lorelai stood in front of the window watching her own daughter. "You two are fighting," she said, mostly to announce her presence.

Lorelai didn't look up from the window. "What gave it away?"

Emily joined her. "Believe it or not, in the last seven years of weekly dinners I have learned a few things about the two of you. I know when something isn't right. What happened?"

Lorelai shrugged. "She's angry about Chris. Angry because I didn't tell her right away. Mad that I haven't told either Luke or Chris yet."

Emily sighed. "Do you have any idea at all, Lorelai?"

"You know what Mom, I really don't," Lorelai admitted. "I know that's not the answer you want to hear, but that's the answer I have."

"What are you going to do?"

She looked sideways. "That's it? No lecture? No Lorelai-you've-ruined-your-life-again? Just a what am I going to do?"

Emily nodded. "You said so yourself. You're thirty-eight years old. You don't need a lecture from me. Lord knows you wouldn't pay attention anyway." She smiled slightly. "May I offer you some advice though?"

"Sure." Lorelai braced herself for whatever was coming next.

"Tell them. Both of them. And the sooner you can find out, the better." Emily gestured out the window toward Logan and Rory, who were still leaning against his car. "Wouldn't it be nice to have that same support?" She didn't wait for Lorelai's answer. "It's getting late, and she's clearly waiting for you. Go talk so you can both get to bed at a decent time."

Lorelai nodded and picked her coat up from where she had dropped it earlier. She was halfway out the door before she turned back. "Hey mom?"

"Yes Lorelai?"

"The support I do have isn't so bad," she said softly. She watched as Emily's shoulders fell slightly. She didn't turn to face her as she replied, keeping her eyes out the window, but when she did, though her voice was thick, Lorelai knew she was smiling.

"Good night Lorelai."

"Good night Mom." She shut the door behind her and walked down the stone path to where Logan and Rory were waiting. "So, good times, huh?" she asked, hoping Rory would at least crack a smile. She didn't. "Oh Rory, I am so sorry," she said immediately. "I don't know what I was thinking, I just--"

"I get it," Rory interrupted her. She pulled herself out of Logan's arms and stood in front of Lorelai. "I get it, you didn't want him yelling at me."

"I really was trying to protect you."

"Sooner or later, he's going to yell," Rory pointed out. "You got through it, I will too."

"What he said in there?" She shook her head. "Rory, I'm proud of the way I raised you. I'm so proud of the woman you are."

Rory smiled, the first real smile Lorelai had seen from her in almost a week. "Thanks, Mom," she said, throwing herself into her arms. Moments later she pulled back sheepishly. "Did you want to come have dinner with us?" she offered.

"No," Lorelai said with a shake of her head. "Well yes, but there's something I need to go do." She squared her shoulders and looked straight at Rory. "I"m going to go see Luke."

Rory smiled again. "Good," she said simply. She reached out and gave her another hug. "Call me later?" With one last smile and good nights all around, the three of them headed their separate ways.

Once they were in the car, Rory turned to Logan and shook her head. "We're never going to actually make it through a family dinner ever again, are we?" she asked with a laugh.

He laughed with her. "Is that your subtle way of telling me you're still hungry?"

"Nothing subtle about it," she said sarcastically as he started the car. "I'm thinking we need to stop for tacos on the way home."

"Tacos?" he repeated doubtfully. "Weren't you just about to be sick not that long ago?"

"Yes, from the smell of _lamb," _she said disgustedly. Her face brightened as she spoke. "Tacos on the other hand, are exactly what this baby wants right now."

"The baby wants tacos?"

"Yes, the baby wants tacos."

He shook his head as he pulled the car onto the road. "How long do you think I'm actually going to buy this whole 'whatever the baby wants the baby gets' deal you've got going on?"

"Oh, at least five more months," she said breezily. She turned and smiled at him confidently.

"And then after that, I figure I've got a good eighteen years of 'but its good for the kid' to fall back on."

The sad thing was, Logan really couldn't argue with her.

* * *

"Well they're gone," Emily announced as the office door opened and Richard walked back out into the sitting room. "I do hope you're pleased with yourself."

"Not now, Emily," he said as he went straight to the wet bar and poured himself a drink. "Would you like one?"

"No, I don't want a drink!" She stared at him incredulously. "And when would you like to talk about this, Richard? When Lorelai shuts us out of her life once again? When Rory and Logan forbid us from seeing our great-grandchild?"

"There are proper ways to handle this, Emily. You of all people should know that by now."

"And you of all people should know that we were _wrong _all those years ago!" Emily snapped. "Oh I stood by your side, and I supported your decision on how we handled our daughter's so-called scandal, and because of that, we missed out on _everything _Richard! We missed moments and memories that we're never going to get back no matter how many pictures we see."

"You agreed with me that we were doing the right thing, Emily, don't turn this around now and-"

"We almost lost her, Richard, don't you see that? I'll be damned if I let that happen again!" He didn't respond to her so she took a deep breath and stood up. "I'm going to go upstairs and not say another word about this tonight. But before I do, think about this Richard. It took sixteen years to get them both back in our life before. How long do you think it would take this time?" She paused at the foot of the staircase and looked back down at her husband. "You may do whatever you want Richard, but this time I am putting my foot down. I refuse to turn my back on our daughter again."

Richard didn't look up from his drink. "Goodnight Emily."

After another long stare, she sighed and made her way up the staircase to their bedroom. Halfway there, she heard the sound of glass shattering against the wall and cringed. She turned, debated going back downstairs but thought better of it and retired to their bed for the night.

* * *

It was just after closing time when Lorelai finally made her way to Luke's Diner. She had walked around the block four times, waiting for the final customers to make their way out and was just coming back around to the front door when he stepped outside to lock it.

"Hey," he greeted her curtly as she walked up to him. "I'm just about to lock up and there's no coffee, so I ca--"

"Wait!" Lorelai held up her hand to stop him from talking. "Luke, please just let me talk."

He sighed. "I already told you Lorelai. There's nothing more we have to say to each other."

"Rory's not the only one who's pregnant!" She locked her eyes onto his as she waited for the realization of her words to sink into him. "We need to talk," she said softly.

Luke only nodded mutely as he held the door open for her, waiting for her to come inside.

_Here goes nothing_, she thought as the door closed heavily behind them.


End file.
